


Origins: Pulsar

by TechnicalZombie



Series: Villains and Heroes [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 47,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnicalZombie/pseuds/TechnicalZombie
Summary: Pulsar's early days as a hero.
Relationships: Pulsar/Ha Rin
Series: Villains and Heroes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814566
Kudos: 6





	1. Origins: Pulsar #1 - Beginnings and Revelations

**Location: City of Xanadu**   
**Year: 200X**

She rolls out of bed, showers, brushes her teeth, gets dressed. It all looks pretty normal for 16 years old. Sure, the mattress is on the floor. It doesn’t matter if the shower is cold, some people like cold showers. It doesn’t matter if the only decorations on the unfinished sheet-rock wall are a GED from last month, a signed and notarized minor’s emancipation order, and a name-change order listing the new name as Pulsar.

It doesn’t matter if she burned down building with the only extant digital and hard copies of those documents. Villain activity is up this month and it was an accident. And Menace was there too for some reason. There was a fight and Menace caused a bunch of property damage. These things happen.

She pauses as she dresses, looking at herself in the mirror. Was there…maybe…just a slight change? At least when her powers had manifested last year certain other teenage issues had cleared up pretty fast. Her skin looks great compared to last year.

“It’s only been two months A…Pulsar, give it a minute. Jeeze.”

Her new outfit helps, at least. Slim violet dyed jeans with a red stripe she’d added herself, with the stripe widens just a bit towards the top, and the special pockets with replicable impact pads at the hips add just a little bit of flare to her figure. Add the utility belt and it works even better. Her red hoodie she’s tailored to fit, except it’s tighter at the waist than further up(She found a corsetry guide online the thought might help with that, but stitching without a machine takes forever.) The stitched-on cloth purple paneling is slim at the waist and curved slightly outwards towards the top, along with the use of extra cloth at the chest, adds just enough. Lacing up her army surplus combat boots, and she’s ready to face a world full of scum and villainy. Or at least a city.

Plus, now there’s no social workers to make her cut her hair and tell her it’s just a phase.

She goes to the fridge, it’s an ancient 50’s model. Apparently indestructible especially after she found a guy in the Hollows to fix it for her. Opening it, she grabs a Greek yogurt and a jar of pickles(it’s amazing the things you can just leave with after battling villainy in a grocery store) mixes the yogurt with granola, and eats. Pickles and Yogurt, breakfast of champions, right? Then she opens the fridge again, and takes out a hypo-injector.

It’s amazing the things you can find while battling…villainy...in a bio-factory…nah fuck it, she can’t justify that one, not really. Yes, the fight had ended next to the factory, sure the driver had run off in fright, but she’d known exactly what she was stealing from the back of that van. Opportunity, ability, and motive, just like Flamestrike always says.

She whispers as she reads the instructions. The way she does every time as if to remind herself that it’s really happening. “Press the injector panel to bare skin on the abdomen. Depress the injector release button until the hypodermic injector has fully discharged. Return unit to MuTech Biomedical Clinic for refill. Do not attempt to refill at home.” She pulls up her shirt, follows the instructions, and winces at the faint sting, then quickly disassembles the unit according to the instructions she found online and sets it in the alcohol bath with the other one. She just needs a few more parts to be able to refill them herself. Then the big bottles she’s stolen with the injector would actually be useful.

It’s a good thing they’re meant to be used once a week. She has three weeks left to make it happen.

She pauses to check herself out one last time in the mirror.

“Stoppit.” She mutters, and heads out.

She doesn’t use the door. The door is walled off from the rest of the building, which is under construction. Nobody noticed one small office with bathroom suite, the kind you give to middle managers that need to feel important, missing from a floor of twenty. It’s already been wallpapered over. This place should be safe for a while.

She opens the window, climbs out, and while clinging to the side of the building, closes it as much as she can, leaving enough room for her hand when she returns. Then, hopping down, adding a little photon blast to push her from wall to wall, she descends to the alley. Too bad for all those middle managers excited for getting “window” offices, they’ll be looking out at another shitty alleyway in Xanadu.

“Whoa kid! Don’t startle a guy like that!”

She whirls but stops when she realizes it’s just an old bum (as opposed to a young bum, also known as a Troubled Youth).

“Sorry. Uhm…do you need help?”

“What, you some kinda super hero? Askin’ every citizen if they need a kitten rescued?”

“Uh…yeah. I got powers and everything. I’m Pulsar.” Her holds out her hand and silver light pulses and flows around it while her eyes light up gold.

“No shit! Hey I saw you on the news! You and Menace really wrecked that mall.”

She feels her cheeks get warm. “Uh…I didn’t mean for that- “

He laughs hoarsely, “Haw! Don’t worry ‘bout it kid! Damage Control is on it and I got me a lotta new underwear!”

“Right…ok…I’m gonna go then.” She turns and starts jogging away.

“Say! You live around here kid? Squattin’ or something?”

“I live over on Nunya!” She calls over her shoulder.

“Eh?”

“Nunya fukkin’ business!”

As she rounds the corner, she can hear him laughing hysterically. Good, she didn’t have to lie to his face. She can’t lie to save her life and she needs to get to training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Deactivated Train Yard #2**

“Geta move on! Go Go!” Flamestrike is shouting at her like he usually does. “That’s it! Precision blasts! Disorient and disable!”

She’s moving almost at full sprint through the makeshift obstacle course, having just put a half dozen blasts though carboard targets. Then boost jump to the top of an old rail car, drop, slide under the abandoned crane arm, energy coiling around her to enhance her slide, back on her feet, leap from the car two more blasts to targets.

“Good Good! C’mon faster!”

A full power blast destroys the doors of a freight car which she boost-leaps through, trailing silver energy over the arc of her leap. She rolls into the landing then sprints hard, bursts of energy coming off her feet as she uses her powers to kick up her running strides until she reaches the end of the course, which suddenly has a huge slab of metal in front of it. Thinking quick she pours on the speed, sheathing her body in silver energy as she hits the plate full speed. There’s a burst of molten and shattered metal as she blasts her herself bodily through the steel trench plate.

The clapping of two massive hands accompanies Flamestrike’s own applause and she turns to the giant of a man who had suddenly added the trench plate to the finish line. He’s a massive brute, at least eight feet of bulky muscle with a head that doesn’t quite scale to his body. His superhero name is Wrecker, but most of the time he’s occupied breaking down debris for recycling. This is his aged train yard.

“Ha ha ha!” His laugh is rough and sounds like he’s doing it slowly and deliberately, but his expression makes it genuine. “Pulsar is thinking quick! Like Kool-Aid Man!”

“Thanks Billie.” She replies with a grin. His proper name is William Blaskowitze, but he goes by Billie. She turns to Flamestrike. “See? I told you I could do it with steel!”

“Yeah yeah yeah, you were right. Just be careful with a move like that. Lots of high-speed shrapnel. Anyway, you beat your record on an unfamiliar course.”

“So, you’ll let me patrol with you?”

“You’ve got the skills to at least not get killed, so yeah.”

“Fuck yeah!”

“Language.” The admonishment is absentminded and he continues, “We got half a day, I’ve even got somethin’ to cut your teeth on first day out. Little bit of info gather, could get a little rough.”

“Cool! I’m ready.”

“Yeah. We’ll see.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cruising the streets of Xanadu in The Inferno, Flamestrike’s specially modified truck, gives one a glimpse of a city in the throes of late-stage capitalism. Homeless of all kinds dot the streets. Afternoon prostitutes are out on their corners. Not quite legal, not quite illegal, and fair game for harassment by police. Some neighborhoods are worn down, but colorful, entrenched communities of Xanadu’s early settlers. Others are drab blocks of tightly packed housing units, cheap housing for families of underpaid workers. Interspersed among them the nice-but-modest townhouses of the city’s middle management and upper echelon civil servants. Each with a police car parked on all four corners.

This doesn’t fully register in Pulsar’s mind, though. She’s finally doing it. After a year of preparation, battling small time criminals in the streets and finally getting Flamestrike’s attention six month’s ago by helping to apprehend (almost by accident) the infamous and dangerous Lord Gourd, and the relentless training that followed, he’s finally letting her work with him as they agreed.

Flamestrike is a cop, there’s no doubt about it. His truck is outfitted like a cop’s, with spare gear, radio, even one of those cool mobile computers with the cellular antenna that connects him to the police computer system (he can even run fingerprint scans with it). And in Pulsar’s mind, cops are a potential threat. Harassing a homeless black kid for no other reason that boredom is normal. She doesn’t dare walk through one of those nicer neighborhoods at all, not without a super-suit at least, and her homemade one doesn’t quite scream “professional”.

But Flamestrike is different. He’d treated her with respect right away, recognized her potential, he said. He’s even cooler than…others have been, about her particular issue with gender. He doesn’t get it, of course, didn’t really listen when she tried to explain. For him, he’d said, she’s Pulsar and that’s what matters. Out of the suit and off the job, they shouldn’t talk anyway. Pulsar is a she, so that’s it. Of course, not five minutes later he’d spotted a particular prostitute and made a rather disgusting joke about them. His respect extends as far as her, and that’s it. Which, she thinks, is still better than many.

She still hasn’t told him about her living situation. He doesn’t need to know.

He hands her a purple domino mask. “Special material, won’t come off in a fight. Had one made for you.”

She grins as she presses it on. It clings to her skin naturally, and after a moment she doesn’t notice it unless she touches her face. He slips his own on and the share a grin.

“Looks cool! We should see about getting you a proper suit made. Something ultra-tough. Even guys like Wrecker gotta wear armor just so they don’t end up naked after a fight.”

She giggles at the idea.

“It’s not funny! My first time out I burned most of my clothes off! Would’a happened again if the force hadn’t added a special budget item to produce a super-suit for me.”

This time she laughed out loud at the image in her head of him, Flamestrike, wearing nothing but boxers and his big moustache. Flamestrike is a pale guy, blonde, blue-eyed, a moderately muscular build with the kind of triangular torso you expect from a highly masculine super-hero.

She stops laughing at him when the radio crackles to life. “All units respond to 1088 at Xanadu Credit Union.”

Flamestrike doesn’t hesitate. “Flamestrike responding…with sidekick.”

He winks at her as he puts the radio back, flips on his sirens, and guns the truck’s engine, sending them speeding down the street.

“Ok. Not quite what I had it mind. But it should be ok. 1088 is a what?”

“Bank robbery.” She responds automatically.

“Right. So, could be hostages, could be a firefight. You follow my orders and don’t improvise. You got this, but be fucking careful. I don’t wanna be tracking down your parents to tell them I got you killed your first day out.”

“I promise you will not have to track down my parents.” She replies as Flamestrike rounds a corner, the tires squealing. It’s an easy promise. He’ll never find them.

They squeal to a stop behind a few other police cars that have already set up a perimeter in front of the bank. Pulsar pulls her hood up, she’s made it even deeper than a normal hoodie, and gets out as Flamestrike does. She tries to match his swagger as he approaches one of the responding officers for a sitrep. That’s a much cooler and faster way of saying “situation report”. She answers “Call me Pulsar.” When asked and stands quietly behind Flamestrike as he barks out orders, eye glowing gold while silver energy plays about her fingertips. Most of the cops don’t stare too long.

 _Yeah,_ She thinks, _Respect me now, don’t you?_

Flamestrike puts a hand on her shoulder and guides her away from the other police. “Something’s not right here. These just called with their demands, called the precinct. I listened to the recording and it sounds rehearsed.”

“This is a distraction.” She says.

“Exactly. Get some altitude on this place. Take a look around and report anything weird.” He hands her a little earpiece. “Don’t go too far, the range isn’t amazing.”

She grins and sticks the little radio in her ear. “Cool.”

“Yeah. Cool. And that’s a soundcheck.”

She hears him doubled in her ear a split second later and gives him a thumbs up before boos-jumping to the roof of a news truck that’s just arrived and then again to a nearby rooftop, only slightly scorching the roof of the truck as she does so. At first, there’s not much to see. More police are arriving. She passes a sniper team setting up on one roof. Apparently, they’ve been informed of her presence at the scene because their only reaction is to wave idly before getting back to work.

She pauses in her search. She should move out wider. If the robbery is a distraction, the action should be…

…she spots it almost at the same time as she had the thought. Someone is up on an electrical transformer. Someone _not_ wearing a City Power Services uniform. She’s memorized all the official uniforms for the city. Flamestrike insisted.

Without a second thought she sprints for the electrical pole. It’s at least a block away from the bank. She leaps from building to building, occasionally boosting her jumps and leaving tar bubbling behind her. The figure working on the transformer is about her size, lean, and…has a tail? Pulsar doesn’t have time to think on it as she charged forward, intent on tacking the saboteur right of the pole. The saboteur barely has a moment to notice Pulsar before they’re plowed into by roughly 55 kilos of reckless super-teen.

They careen through the air and land in a combative heap on the next rooftop.

Pulsar’s impressions are scattered. There’re claws, her target is incredibly strong. She pummels at them, without blasting, and gets a bite on her shoulder for her trouble. Her target is cursing and snarling. Finally, she feels the need to break free of the viciously fighting form and lets out a burst of energy from her entire body. The blast sends her target flying, but they twist in mid-air and lands on their feet.

She finally gets a good look at them.

“Possum Girl.”

The Irredeemable Possum Girl is wearing a spiked leather jacket, canvas cargo pants and combat boots. She snarls at Pulsar, long tail whipping back and forth.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m Pulsar, and you’re a terrorist. Come quietly and maybe things will go well for you.”

“Not likely.” She holds up a small radio device. “And you’re too late anyway.”

Pulsar barely has time to turn back towards the transformer before it explodes in a flash of blinding light and arching electricity. She’s hurled back, blind and disoriented, skidding across the rooftop to slam into an AC unit. By the time her vision clears and her ears stop ringing, Possum Girl is gone.

She checks herself over quickly. No bruising, the spot where Possum Girl bit her has holes in the fabric but it looks like she didn’t pierce the skin. Which is a little odd because it’d fucking hurt at the time. After a few moments, the dizziness subsides too. She’s about to head back to the bank when Flamestrike tops a ladder and rushes over.

“Hey! What happened?”

She explains what went down, the presence of Possum Girl and the apparent bomb on the transformer.

“Ok, first, fucking stupid rushing over without at least calling in. Second, that’s weird, because as soon as the power went down, the thieves set off their own bomb in the basement and escaped though the storm drains. They got all the cash on the bank floor and in the day-vault, but it’s hardly enough to be worth the risk or the cost of their explosives.”

“Day Vault?”

“Smaller vault the bank keeps ready cash in. You know, day to day operations. The main vault takes like, an hour to open. We’ve seen this before too, three times in the last three months. Near as we can tell, they timed the robberies to coincide with scheduled vault openings. Something went wrong here though.”

That’s new. Before he’s only told her the barest details of the previous robberies.

“Wait, isn’t it weird to actually rob a bank these days? You can’t get real big money without using digital transfers. You even said they don’t hold more than maybe a million in cash, and you’re also always saying the real villainy is expensive. Would a couple million even be worth it?”

Flamestrike shrugs. “Cash is cash. It’s still useful. Anyway, good work spotting Possum Girl. Bank jobs aren’t her usual schtick, but I Hell we can just cut power preemptively and make the main vaults auto-lock. Bam! Magnetic seal. Takes a week to open ‘em again after that.”

“But what about-“

“And hey! Look at you, your outfit is beat to hell. I’ll see of the precinct will spring for something more durable.”

“Oh, cool.” She mumbles.

“And I promise no uh…measurements. We’ll get something adjustable. Doesn’t need to be fitted just yet. I swear you’ve grown an inch since I started training you.”

“About four centimeters, actually.”

“And uh…what’s that in _real_ units?”

She rolls her eyes. “Inch and a half.”

“See? The super’s equipment department does this stuff all the time. Just come by the precinct when I tell you and we’ll take some pictures so they get your colors right. Cool?”

“Yeah, cool.”

“Ok, I’m gonna go talk to press for a second. You feel up to that?”

“Uh…no I think I’ll uh…I’m still a little dizzy. I’m gonna stay up here for a minute before I go home ok?”

“Get yourself checked out by a medic before you go. They’ll be here for a bit dealing with the hostages and stuff.”

“Ok.”

With that, he shimmies down the ladder and jogs off back towards the bank.

She does stay on the roof for a minute, but she isn’t recovering. She feels fine. Even with the adrenaline high gone she feels just as she had before the scuffle. She wants to look around for evidence here. Flamestrike hasn’t even sent a CSI team over, or he’d forgotten to mention it.

Besides, the way he blew past her idea…he isn’t going to listen. Not until she has something concrete to give him. It’s just odd to rob three banks the same way for only enough cash to buy like, a really nice condo in a downtown high-rise(she’s seen the commercials for “affordable” condos and their “criminal” mortgage rates). It just couldn’t cover the kind of money she’d always been told it took to make a proper super-villain. Heroes can get by on a dime budget, Flamestrike says, because all they need to do is interfere just enough to derail most plans. Then the villain wastes time and money dealing with them instead of, say, enslaving a city or building a death ray to blow up the moon.

She sighs. It’s too busy here right now. Flamestrike will be on the lookout for her “recklessness”. She’ll do what she needs to do tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Next Day...**

Flamestrike is busy with something, today, so she’s supposed to “be responsible” and “stay out of trouble”, which is a hot load of bullshit. She may not know everything, but she knows that the defining trait of every super-hero, all the best ones, is going out and looking for trouble. So, and hour of training with Wrecker and his holy-shit-that’s-dangerous but incredibly fun version of dodge-ball[dodge-car, where he throws cars at her] and she’s back on the scene from yesterday. The bank isn’t open so even the employees aren’t really around, just two vans full of computer repair guys.

She’s quickly back to the rooftop where she battled Possum Girl. She managed some light repairs to her outfit but it’s still a little ragged and singed. She nods to the City Power guy on the pole nearby before staring around the roof, not really sure what she’s looking for, or why she thinks she’ll find it here.

“Hey kid…you a superhero?”

She’s shaken from her no-progress investigative reverie by the voice of the repair guy. She turns. He’s…old? He could be 25 or 35, she doesn’t know. He just looks older than her anyway. The stupid moustache doesn’t help.

“Yeah, I am, name’s Pulsar.”

“Yeah I thought so! You tussled with that psycho, Possum Girl right? Fukkin’ cool.”

“You think so?” She tries to keep cool but she can’t say she doesn’t like the praise that occasionally comes her way from the citizens.

“Shit yeah! She’s goddamn dangerous, crazy tough, she whipped Flamestrike once a couple years ago.”

Holy shit Flamestrike never mentioned this. “Yeah? Musta been an off day.”

“Hah! He’s your mentor, I get it, but don’t let him bullshit ya kid, Flamestrike’s not perfect. An actual badass for sure, but I’d bet on Possum Girl in any straight up fight any day. Lucky for everyone she doesn’t usually fight straight up, but that’s just me. What you doin’ up here anyway?”

She shrugs. “Looking for clues?”

“You mean like that?” He points behind her.

She turns to look and spots a little sheet of note-paper, like from a pocket notebook, stuck in up against the parapet of the roof, pined in place by a bit of transformer shrapnel. She plucks it from its spot and reads it aloud.

“Uh…lets see… This handwriting is shit. ‘Transformer 1 block N of XCU. 1200 hours. Menace.’ N must be North, XCU must be Xanadu Credit Union. Menace…is that someone.”

“Holy shit it’s a real clue? I was just tryin’ta sound cool.” The repair guy is grinning stupidly.

“Yeah well, it’s a clue. So…thanks? Good work? Every heard of this Menace?”

“Nah, but I can’t keep every hero and villain straight in my head. My daughter can, but she’s the family genius, got a double masters or something from MIT, robots and material science, and she’s only seventeen! She used to wanna be a superhero but..ALS kinda put that fire out…”

“Oh…I’m sorry…” She says uncomfortably. This guy’s just spilling his story, or his daughter’s story, to a stranger in a mask. What is wrong with people?

“She thinks she can make a suit to compensate but I don’t make that kinda money, neither does the wife, she won’t work for a company, they’d just take her inventions for themselves. Say uh…do ya mind?”

He’s taken a business card out of a pocket under his coveralls and is offering it to her, leaning as far over to the roof as he can. She goes over and leans out as far as she can and manages to snatch it without falling.

“She wants to start her own business, designing super-suits. I said I’d pass out business cards if I met any supers on the job. I think she was just humoring me getting them made. Can’t say I honestly thought I’d meet someone but…here we are.”

She reads the card. **Alloy Designs – Super Suits, Personal Equipment, Defensive Tools.** The card has a cool design embossed on it, like circuits in a honeycomb.

“Well, her card is cool.” She says, tucking it into one of her belt pockets. They don’t carry much already, just a few little tools and several packs of sour gummie worms. “Thanks. If I ever can get my own suit made. I’ll look her up.”

Now the guy is practically beaming so brightly she almost wants sunglasses. “Even if it doesn’t work out. I’m just…really happy to hear that. My names Howard by the way. Call me Howie.”

“Thanks, uh…I should probably get going. And you probably need to work. Thanks for spotting this!” She shouts the last words over her shoulder as she turns to go. She catches a glimpse of him waving as she turns back and leaps off the roof to the next one, headed back towards the back. She pauses at the main street, looking at the vans parked out front. **“Occam’s Computer Service and Repair – Simple, Correct, Computer Solutions.”** She pulls her notebook from her belt and makes note of it. Flamestrike says to make note of everything. But there are no cops here, just the bank’s security. Maye it’s nothing.

It’s probably nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Later...**

“Ugh…Billie cops are so stupid.”

Wrecker nods as he writes in a ledger. It’s huge, something he made and bound himself, but it looks just the right size in his hands, writing with one of those oversized pencils that looks almost small in his hands.

“I mean, I’m supposed to help out whenever I can, but they can’t spare anything to lend me a hand?”

The huge man nods agreeably and continues writing his figures. He only pauses to sharpen the pencil with a knife, making sure the the fine shavings falling into a small tray on his desk. Wrecker is always careful, clean, in his home. It’s a bungalow built for a giant, made of welded steel and cinderblocks, but clean, tasteful but sparse in its decorations, and most importantly Pulsar is welcome there when she doesn’t want to be alone.

Plus, he has a computer he lets her use. He has to use a keyboard he made himself, sized to his huge hands. Though he still does all his books in the huge ledger.

“Flamestrike says he’s gonna keep at it, and to stay out of trouble and keep a low profile for a couple days, like Possum Girl’s gonna hold a grudge for interrupting her. Except I don’t think I did. She set off that bomb right away. She was finished, I’m sure of it. Maybe it was a few minutes early, but I think the point was to knock out power right around there. Blowing up a transformer sets off an EMP you know.” She motions to the news article about the robbery and transformer explosion, how it’d knocked out electronics for blocks around.

“ElestroPlastique.” Billie says absently. “Enhances EMP.”

“What…like…C4 that makes an EMP?”

Wrecker nods, still focused on his work.

“Did you tell Flamestrike.”

He nods again.

“Did he listen?”

The head shake is negative.

“Does he ever listen?”

Noncommittal shrug. Sometimes.

“I ever tell you you’re a great conversationalist, Billie?”

This time he looks at her and smiles. “Talks for two. Pulsar.”

She laughs and slumps in her chair. This is the closest he ever gets to a joke with a big set up. Billie’s never been one for lots of words.

When she’d first started hanging out here with Wrecker, Billie, she’d thought he was slow. He rarely talked. All he did was pull apart steel and feed it into a giant smelter to be melted into raw steel rods. She’d had to hang out here, Flamestrike’s condition for training her had been she couldn’t go out on her own. And, for the most part, she’d stuck to that promise. Mostly.

But even with her indiscretions, she’d ended up spending a lot of time training in the scrapyard. Learning the limits of her powers, from full power assaults to almost laser fine control. She could cut most kinds of steel with a short stream of energy as bright as a plasma cutter. Billie sometimes pays her cash to cut things, light work. And he doesn’t work normal hours.

“Enough.” He’d said when she’d asked him how much he worked.

“Plenty.” He’d said, when she’d found out how much he effectively made in an hour, and motioned to the scrapyard. “Shelter, resources, safety, friends.” He’d poked her gently with one oversized finger. “Plenty. Enough.”

Then he’d showed her what he did for fun. The giant-scaled machine shop where he made exquisite miniature sculptures. His huge homemade books, filled with mathematics culled from national publications and then pieced together by his own calculations. Or his handwritten books not of mathematics, but his own thoughts, she hadn’t read them but she was pretty sure they could be reduced to a simple word. “Enough.”

A former superhero, The Wrecker, Billie to her, isn’t dumb. She’s pretty sure he’s a genius who’d had the misfortune to have a body as large and powerful as his mind.

When she’d apologized for thinking he was stupid, he’d only smiled. “Body stupid. Mind sharp.” She’d never connected with anything so deeply, thinking about her own struggles with her body that didn’t match her mind.

She’d come out to him about her transition before Flamestrike. He’d only smiled and nodded, “Make body sharp, like mind.”

She’d watched him sit and think for hours while she ran drills, sparred with Flamestrike, and ran through cop-lingo flashcards. Then he would go to his “little” home and write in one of his books, steadily and quickly, for about an hour. As far a she knew, he’d never needed to make a correction.

“Make it.”

“What?” She shakes herself from her reverie and the sound of his deep voice, “I can’t make a suit myself. I can barely stitch this thing together.” She motions to her battered clothes.

“Help.”

“If you wanna help, yeah I’d love that but…” She hesitates, “I hope you understand if I’m not really comfortable letting you look at me close enough to uh…you know…”

“Smart girl.”

“What? That guy’s daughter?” In her rambling hanging out with him she’d told Billie about her morning. “What, and I just supposed to show up at her place and say ‘Hey wanna design my super suit I promise I’ll pay you when I’m famous.’? I don’t really feel like being laughed at today.”

“Funny now.”

“What- hey! I worked hard on this!” She gets up, out of the chair, and winces at the short rip as her sleeve gives way. She should have double checked the seams last night but she’d been tired.

“Fine. Fine! I’ll go. Watch me get laughed at by a crippled genius. Better than getting teased in here by the giant genius. Fucking super smarties bullying us regular folk who can’t do fluid dynamics in our heads while throwing cars at teenagers.” She continues to mutter as she leaves, _feeling_ Billie’s smile on her back as he laughs at her silently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later she’s at the address where the voice on the other end of a short payphone call had told her to meet. It’s not quite the cramped hovel stacked like identical bricks ten stories high like some of the cheaper apartments in the city. But it’s not very much larger. But luxury of luxuries, it has a balcony. It takes a strong boost from a nearby and significantly lower rooftop for her to reach it, but she does, aiming for the screen light of a flip phone waving at her.

She grabs the railing and vaults herself over the wall, managing to look expert and not at all like there’d been a whole tenth of a second of terror where she’d thought she wouldn’t make it and crash into some apartment three stories below. Or worse, the wall.

The girl waiting for her is in an electric wheel chair, but that’s about the only think Pulsar was expecting about her. Her jeans are ripped, her hair is bright pink, one ear is lined with spiked studs. Her combat boots are a riot of colors, multiple drawings melding together with no theme. Her hoodie says “Rebel Scum” in red with a Rebels symbol from Star Wars below it.

And when she smiles at Pulsar her heart does a little backflip. _Fuck girl, keep it together._

She’s watching Pulsar with liquid dark eyes and a little half smile, studying her. She’s said something and Pulsar is too busy staring to catch it.

“What? Uhm…sorry, didn’t catch that, the hood…” She pulls her hood, which does not at all interfere with her hearing, down. “What’d you say?”

“I’m Ha Rin, my friends just call me Rin.”

“If uh…that’s what you want.”

“I do.”

“Ok, I’m Pulsar. Nobody calls me anything else.” This is true. Not one person living knows her dead name. Not in this city anyway.

“I’m um…this is really exciting. I’ve been watching you since that gang fight in the Hollows. I’m a bit of a fan.”

Oh gods…she knows about that. All the papers every knew was that an unknown super had attempted to break up a brawl, caused two fires, and fired silver energy. It’d passed into what she’d hoped would be the blackness of the past when bigger events captured the city’s attention, but no such luck.

“That’s uh…nnnnot the impression I wanted to make?”

“Nonono~! I thought it was really brave to rush in like you did. You saved that kid and nobody was hurt in the fires.”

“Well, they didn’t mention the squatters in the buildings. I got them out too but only because when you’re homeless you tend to be able to move right away all the time…I’m not really popular down there I think.”

That seems to dampen things and Ha Rin’s smile fades a little. _Nice job killing the mood, dumbass._

“Oh…but, what I meant is, I’ve kinda been thinking about your suit ever since. And then I saw your picture in the paper today, and then dad came home and told me about meeting you, well…let’s just say I’ve got some ideas. Wanna see?”

Rin slowly rises from her chair and slowly, deliberately with a little difficulty, moves to sit on the padded bench next to the door. She pats the seat next to her.

Pulsar is about to sit when she glances in through the window. There’s Howard, reading the paper and drinking…looks like tea. He glances up and see’s her looking in. He grins and waves excitedly. She waves and quickly sits down.

“Oh gods, I just made eye contact with your dad.”

“What…is he-?” She cranes her neck to look inside and then rolls her eyes as she turns back. “He’s such a dork. He worries too much. As if it’ll help anything….”

“You should have heard him talking about you. I was afraid he was gonna pull out a wallet full of pictures.”

“Oh! He would have! Just be thankful he was up on a pole and couldn’t reach his wallet!”

Pulsar can’t help but laugh, and Ha Rin joins her after a moment. For a few seconds, they get to be teenage girls laughing about an embarrassing parent.

“Ok, ok, so here’s what I’ve got.” Ha Rin says after calming herself.

She pulls a sketchbook from a side-saddle bag on her chair and opens it. The first pages look like sketched technical specs. Fabrics, alloys, armor plates, weight, there’s a lot of what looks like circuits.

“I don’t really know what your energy is made of, so I had a few ideas based on electricity and plasma, channeling it to increase power. But even without that, the suit itself is bullet proof and incredibly tough, or it would be.” She turns a page to a diagram of some kind of fabric weave and proceeds to explain it. Pulsar doesn’t get it at all, but she listens, and manages to glean that the gist of it is, the fabric’s weave would get tighter when something hits it, resisting the impact better. “And here’s what I sketched up when I saw your picture in the paper today.”

Oh, fuck they’d gotten a picture?! She stops thinking about her worries when she sees the sketch.

“Oh, shit this looks so cool!”

“You think so? I just was in a hurry after you called so I tried to be fast.”

The art, it is art for sure, is maybe a _little_ rough to Pulsar’s eye but it looks more like style than unfinished work. She sees herself rendered heroically, four action poses and three front, back, and side layouts like a character study.

“Rin this looks incredible and I love the design and the style. I don’t look this good.”

“Sure you do.” Ha Rin reaches for the paper and touches Pulsar’s hand instead.

For Pulsar, it feels like electric shock and she involuntarily pulls away. Instantly her heart is hammering in her chest. Not to mention she realizes she’s having a very distinct reaction to being touched by the very beautiful girl she’s been sitting next to for the past few minutes. Touch starvation and the _“Oh gods she’s so gorgeous.”_ thoughts spinning around in her brain since she arrived are making for an unfortunate and embarrassing combination. She gets up to go.

“Wait. Pulsar stop, it’s ok.”

“No, it’s not. I just…I need to go. Your designs are incredible. I wanna use them but…I should go.”

“I understand, I swear I do. Just sit down.”

“What do you understand?”

“I started transitioning when I was twelve. It’s the reason my mom’s not in there with my dad.”

Pulsar whirls, staring down wide-eyed at the girl on the bench. Slim and delicate and beautiful, not at all like her.

“Mom wouldn’t divorce, but she didn’t want to support me. Dad…well he didn’t really get it, not completely, but he backed me. Mom put him through hell to do it though, she was vicious. She killed his reputation. He’s an electrical engineer, he’s brilliant, but you saw where he works instead of an R&D lab. I started puberty blockers at twelve, bottom surgery at fourteen, been on hormones ever since. The new injectors are great, especially since my hands aren’t super strong to begin with.”

Pulsar’s mind races. **_She knows._** _She’s like me. **No, she’s nothing like you!** **She’s gorgeous! Brilliant!** She’s had surgery. **She spotted you. She knows! You’re in danger!** NO! She’s not a threat! Calm down! SIT DOWN AND CALM DOWN!_ She slowly sinks down the parapet wall and to the floor of the balcony, pressing her hands to the cheap outdoor plastic “grass”.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asks hoarsely.

“Girls like us should look out for each other.” She replies gently.

The phrase settles in her mind. **_Girls_** _like **us.**_ It sits down and makes a home in her brain. It feels right.

“How’d you know?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure from the news picture, but up close…you’re tailoring isn’t bad but I’ve been studying tailoring and fashion to help with super-suit design and I’ve developed an eye for these things.”

“And then just now…”

She blushes, “Yeah…it’s ok I swear.”

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot but…it just doesn’t feel wrong to me. Not like other things.”

“It’s not that weird to lack dysphoria towards your penis. Just say it the word. Hiding it behind a euphemism won’t change anything. Plus, not everyone’s lucky enough to have my dad for a dad. So even if you did have dysphoria there, it wouldn’t matter.”

The more she talks, the calmer Pulsar feels. The panicked buzz in her brain subsides, her breathing settles down a lot with her heartrate.

“So how come you’re so smart about all this? I already feel better.”

“Because I’m going to die young so I decided to grow up fast before it’s too late.”

Going from panic to weepy isn’t an unfamiliar experience for Pulsar. New hormones coursing through your body can be a real trip on top of all your other issues. But having it prompted by the incredibly tragic declaration so matter-of-factly stated by the frail and gorgeous girl who is currently attractively lit by the kitchen lights, sitting above her in a position of perfect poise and dignity, is just too much.

A couple minutes later and several apologies by Ha Rin later, Pulsar has managed to collect herself enough to sit next to her quietly.

“You know, I think we might actually have a chance at making this.” Pulsar says finally, looking at the sketches in her hands. “I uh, know a guy.”

“Wait really?”

“Yeah, ever heard of Wrecker?”

“I thought he was just a Tank Bruiser, inactive too.”

“Oh no, Billie is much more than that. He doesn’t even like to fight. Nobody’s dragged him from that scrapyard in years.”

“Well…Dad has a day off in a couple days. I bet he’d be thrilled to meet The Wrecker, destroyer of Tech Tower Plaza.” She grins.

“Oh jeeze, nothing anybody knows about that story is right. It’s all off. He wrote it down for me, your dad can read it. It’s hilarious.” Pulsar gins back.

Then Ha Rin takes her hand and her heart rate triples. At least it feels that way.

“Pulsar, the other thing I decided a long time ago is to seize the moment and act on my feelings right away.”

“Ok?”

“I wanna kiss you.”

Pulsar takes a deep break and manages to squeak. “Ok.”

Ha Rin’s lips are hot and soft on her own. Neither of them moves, they don’t deepen the kiss. Rin merely presses her lips to Pulsars for a few seconds then withdraws. Pulsar is glad to see at Ha Rin’s cheeks are at least as red as hers feel hot.

“Rin…you’re really extra pretty when you blush.”

“Sh-shush! Your lips feel really nice and you smell good.”

“Wha- I-“ Pulsar can’t choke any words out and they both sit in silence for a while.

Then, just in the corner of her eye, Pulsar spots something. And when she looks, it’s more horrible than she could have ever imagined. Ha Rin’s dad is there, at the kitchen table, newspaper dropped, hands on his cheeks, staring at them with an incredibly ridiculous, open-mouth idiot grin.

When Ha Rin spots what she’s look at, she shrieks. “DAD!”

“I’ve gotta go.” Pulsar says flatly.

“Wait!” Ha Rin grabs her hand, pulls her close and kisses her cheek. “Later.”

“Right…later.” And with that brilliant reply, and a dopey smile, Pulsar leaps from the balcony.

[This becomes a very important lesson in reaction physics in which Pulsar barely avoids breaking both her legs.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Time Passes...**

The next month passes…what passes for “quietly” in a city like Xanadu. Ha Rin’s visit to the scrapyard goes really well. Billie, upon being informed of Ha Rin’s disability, spends the two days before it cutting and welding wide steel plates into wheelchair-safe paths to all his important buildings. And when Ha Rin asks to see the rest of the scrapyard, everyone[Howard, and Pulsar] is treated to the sight of Wrecker lifting Rin to his shoulder and walking around with her. Howard takes a thousand pictures but that one, Pulsar feels, is the best one.

It’s pretty quickly arranged that Wrecker will build a workspace for Ha Rin. He insists on it, already has plans drawn up for Rin to see, and cements his insistence by pointing at the father and daughter pair and stating, “Friends.” No further arguments are made, as if anyone could have stopped the kindly giant anyway. Pulsar learns that Billie has a far more complex and vast array of material science and production equipment that she ever suspected. When asked he hands her one of his huge books and says with a shrug “Hobby.” The book appears to be a scrapbook of scientific papers with hand-written notes on how to replicate the production methods theorized therein. He’s been building production machines for meta-materials as a hobby.

Rin, of course, is thrilled beyond words. When Pulsar stops by, at least every other day, to hang out with her, she babbles about the possibilities. Pulsar is all too happy to listen as they cuddle on the bench or inside on the couch. Especially once she gets used to Ha Rin’s light and warm presence and there are no further embarrassing reactions[well, fewer, because the human body has no chill whatsoever].

Flamestrike, finally convinced he doesn’t need to watch over her every moment she’s out[after a week of her going out on her own without permission], decides to take on another trainee. Apparently, he’s the son of an ex-cop, wounded and disabled in the line of duty, a classic story. Of course, due to his legacy, he gets to train _with_ the police. It’s horseshit, of course, but she pushes that aside because she’s too busy.

There’s been another bank robbery, this time she wasn’t there, and although the police are on the lookout for Possum Girl or someone else, the power still goes down while the criminals escape. That’s why today, she’s on a roof overlooking the Freight Rail Bank, one of the biggest banks in Xanadu and according to Howard Gaumont, electrical engineer and Ha Rin’s father, they supposedly hold huge amounts of offshored cash for United States corporations and the ultra-wealthy. Pulsar isn’t really clear on what “off-shoring” is but she gets it’s a place where the stupidly rich store their money. A survey of the scene reveals no new clues, so she watches the bank.

Once again, computers were damaged by an EMP, and computer techs are here to repair and replace damaged machines.

She takes a little set of binoculars from her utility belt and gets a better look at the vans.

“Occam’s Computer Service again…guess they really get around.” She mutters to herself, recalling the note she’d made a couple weeks ago.

She’s looked them up since. Apparently, they don’t even handle personal computers, corporate jobs only. She could feel something, an idea, starting to come together. The effectively pointless robberies, how they’d all involved an EMP bomb at some point, and the thought that Occam’s might work for more of the banks that’d been hit…there was something there.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the crunch of roof gravel behind her and she whirls, energy coiling around her arms…

…to find herself staring down the barrel of a gun.

It looks too big. She can’t move, terror locking up her reflexes and blasting static through her brain. She can barely see the person holding it. There’s just the gun.

“Shoulda stuck ta muggers kid.”

Getting shot is a very peculiar sensation. The impact throws her back to the parapet. It doesn’t hurt. She feels numbness in her chest, cold, she can’t move and her vision is fading...

...then she’s in a white space.

She’s dressed differently. She looks different too. Much more like...she envisions herself in her mind. She’s wearing something like what Rin designed. She thinks she’s standing on something. It feels like she is.

**_THEN A BLAST OF SOUND AND SENSATION WRACKS HER BODY. SHE CAN FEEL HER MIND AND BODY COMPRESSING UNDER THE UNFATHOMABLE WEIGHT OS SOMETHING, A PRESENCE, SHE CAN’T IDENTIFY. IT’S CRUSHING EVERYTHING ABOUT HER TO A TINY SPECK. SHE’S DIEING. IT HURTS._ **

Then the sensation ends. It takes her a few moments to realize she’s still screaming and stops, taking a ragged breath.

“Wh-what...who are you?” She shouts into the whiteness.

“Verbal linguistic communication? What are _you_?” A voice asks, coming from everywhere, so powerful it vibrates her bones.

“Stop! That hurts!” She falls again in agony.

“You are so _small_?” The voice asks. This time more quietly.

“I don’t understand!” She sobs as the agony subsides. “I’m...human. Why are you so loud?”

“Human...why are you so...no “small” is wrong...why are you so quiet?”

She manages to gather herself and stand again. “I’m a...biological being. Composed of uh...carbon based compounds.”

“Carbon?”

“It’s an element.” She wracks her brain, stupid shitty high school and its shitty chemistry course. “Basic atomic element, composed of uhm...three subatomic particles, 6 nutrons, 6 protons, 6 electrons. I think it has isotopes uh...with 7 neutrons,” It’s starting to come back to her now. Partly because Ha Rin was talking about carbon structures a couple days ago. “Oh! And one with 8 neutrons but it’s unstable, Rin said it’s radioactive, yeah!”

There’s a twinge of pain in her skull and she staggers, groaning.

“I am taking understanding from your mind. The speed seems harmful to you. I will reduce the rate of transfer.”

The pain subsides to a dull throbbing, then a strange tickle deep in her skull where a tickle shouldn’t be.

“What are you?”

“Please wait while I assemble a simulacrum.”

A moment later, the scene begins to change. Soon she’s standing on an impossible surface. It seems to shift beneath her feet. The horizon reminds her of pictures taken on the Moon. If the Moon was perfectly flat and smooth. She kneels to touch the ground. It feels mobile, under her touch, but smooth. Around her, great plumes of energy reach into the starry sky. They look like her own energies, except these are laced with amber gold, violet, red, and blue.

Then she spots the woman approaching her.

She’s at least two meters tall. Dressed in flowing fabric that looks like...something ancient Greek maybe? Her skin is pale olive, her black hair in a long, thick braid draped over her shoulders. Her eyes are golden and glowing with power the way Pulsar’s do when she’s drawing on her abilities.

“A peculiar form. I have assembled this body from strong impressions in your mind. The sensation is interesting. I have never had biological sensations.”

“What are you?”

“Your science calls me a Pulsar. It is who and what I am.”

“Are you a god?”

The woman’s expression hardens. “No. Gods as you understand them are terrible creatures.” Suddenly there is a spear in her hand, and a round shield in the other. Now she reminds Pulsar of statues of Athena. Her head cocks. “Hmm...these words and their emotional contexts I have gleaned from you, it is a fascinating way of communicating. I think it... greatly enriches the experience.”

“I don’t really know another way.”

“The experience is lost from your context but...you have music and poetry. These add stronger emotional context for you.”

“I guess they do.” She sinks to sit on the...ground. “So...all this is you? You are a pulsar and you’re also Pulsar? This is...all you?”

“Pulsar is what I am, what all of us are, we do not have names as you understand them. We know who we are, and who others are among us, without such designations. This is me, filtered for your perceptions.” She pauses, “Pulsar is, in some way, who you are. As fully as it is what I am. That is your identity, though once others imposed another on you.”

“I just thought it sounded good, but then...it felt so right.”

“This is most curious. I had intended to speak with the star you orbit, to see if it had developed a mind. But my pulse encountered you, and you absorbed it. That has never happened before. It should have destroyed you.”

“Well, it didn’t keep me from being shot.”

“Hmm...this violence of your kind, and pain, and I see beauty as well, joy, wonder. I did not realize the depth of your existence. But worry not, I do not think your existence will end. You will not die.”

“Why? How?!”

“My pulse connected you to me, and me to you. We now are connected in a way that surpasses the speed of light. You have become a conduit for my power. As you use it, I sense your capacity to channel it will grow. And I am aware of your body, my power will repair it. This will also cause your power to grow.”

“What doesn’t kill me will literally make me stronger?”

The Pulsar smiles, the first genuine expression of emotion she’s seen from this strange being. “Yes. I see you have discounted such platitudes emotionally, but in this one and only case, it is true. Ah, I can see the ideas forming in your mind already. I hope you will not be too reckless, I have no wish to lose a new friend.”

“I’m friends with a star now.” Pulsar grins. “Maybe getting shot isn’t so bad.”

“It opened your mind to me. But perhaps you should not seek out more such experiences.”

“I’m not gonna try to get killed, if that’s what you mean. But what I do, it’s totally safe either.”

“Yes. I do see what you mean. Your words clarify the impressions of your mind. I usually communicate by pure conceptual thought. To crystallize meaning in such a way...interesting.”

“So... how long have I been out? I can’t really, sense what’s going on.”

“Oh, by your measurements...less than one one-thousandth of a second has passed. I have stretched your perceptions in order to keep from crushing your mind with my presence. But this will not last much longer by your current perception.”

“Will we be able to talk again?”

“Not like this, not unless you come this close to ending again. But I will listen to you, and I will be able to communicate limited impressions of concepts at times.”

“Oh. That’s...cool but kinda sad. I just made a new friend and all.”

“I will always be sensing you. I part of you, even more fully than before.”

“I uh...kinda like that.”

“I do as well. Farewell for now.”

_She feels a wild rush of power! It’s exactly like the day her powers awakened for the first time. It hurts, it’s exhilarating, it’s terrifying._

She bounces off the parapet wall, blazing with silver and gold energy, her eyes alight with power. She surges forward, past the panicked shots by her assailant, she swats the weapon from their hand and it’s smashed apart. The killer barely has time to scream before her fist connects with their chest and there’s a wet cracking sound and they’re flying backwards, skidding across the gravel.

She stops. She’s never done that before. She could, she can blast through steel, but even reflexively she’s learned not to go all out. That didn’t feel all out.

“Fuck....fuckfuckfuck...” She rushes forward kneeling next to the assailant, who appears feminine.

The gunwoman is struggling to breath, her hand is a ragged mess of shattered bone and smashed flesh, bleeding profusely.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to do this! I’ll call an ambulance. Do you have a phone?”

She reaches down to search the woman’s pockets, but the instant she touches her, power _rushes_ through her fingertips and the woman is suffused in gold energy. In moments her hand seems to repair itself, totally unharmed. The woman’s breathing suddenly stutters then comes easy, and Pulsar can hear the shattered sternum knitting back together.

Nearly as fast as it happened, the rush of power is gone, and suddenly her attempted killer is scrambling backwards away from her in a panick.

“Holy shit what the fuck kid?! I fucking shot you! Nobody said you could...what the fuck!”

“Fuck you! You tried to kill me!”

“Yeah and it didn’t take! And you almost killed me just now!”

“Yeah will I didn’t! Kind of. I think I healed you? I didn’t know I could do that.”

“Oh, great the super-teen didn’t know she could heal people so she practiced on me by shattering my chest. Fucking cool!”

“This is weird for me too ok?!”

They both sit on the roof in silence for a while.

“I’m...gonna go...”

“Yeah uh...go and rethink your life choices or something.”

“You’re just gonna let me go?!”

“It’s a weird day for me. Just go ok?”

“Yep. Gone. Never see me again.”

And then she’s scrambling to her feet and running across the roof to a fire escape. Meanwhile, Pulsar sits on the roof looking up at the sky. She doesn’t know why or how, but she knows she’s looking as directly as she can, right in the direction of The Pulsar.

She can feel the new power now. Her body tingles as she can feel it readjusting subtly to her new strength. She feels, an impression of an idea, that she should pause and focus on her body. She sits quietly, looking up at the blue sky, feeling herself change ever so subtly. In a few minutes, she feels she’s back in control. Her training to master her power doesn’t need to start over. She just needed a moment to adjust, and there wasn’t time in a crisis before.

“Ok...ok ok ok...cool...” She stands and looks down at herself.

The blast of power has ripped her clothes in random spots. She looks like she just lost another fight with Possum Girl. At least it hides the spot with the gunshot. And, looking closer, it’s not even bleeding. She’d healed so fast she hadn’t had time to even bleed? That probably won’t happen twice. She wonders if she’d always healed like this, since her powers emerged. That bite by Possum Girl takes on a new light.

There’re sirens in the distance. Someone called in the gunshots. She needs to leave.

She needs to talk to someone about this...

**_To Be Continued..._ **


	2. Origins: Pulsar #2 - Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quiet weeks allow Pulsar and Ha Rin to deal with a small crisis, as what will become the team starts to come together.

“Fuck…shit fuck dammit fucking fuckshit!”

Pulsar paces the roof opposite the officer building where her hidey-hole is located swearing as creatively as she can in her agitated state. Everything is completely fucked. She’s just found out her powers come from an alien intelligence that is literally a type of collapsed neutron star known as a pulsar. With the added bonus of that being now learning everything about humanity and Earth from her [she should’ve stayed in school, gone to college! She can’t represent humanity like this! She knows more about Star Trek and X-Files than real science!]. And now, just as she’s coming back to try and process all this before sleeping, the little gap she carved out of the office building by secretly drywalling off the door to a planned office, has been discovered.

She can see right in her, formerly hers, window to the office manager or whomever standing with probably a janitor. It looks like they’ve gone through most of her stuff, which isn’t much admittedly, but haven’t taken anything out of the fridge. Which is good because those hormones [aw fuck she’s down to one injector and she’s been forgetting to find the extra parts she needs to refill them, double fuck!] need to be kept cool or they’ll destabilize and become useless. Maybe she shouldn’t have stolen experimental compounds. They’re in human trails and everything looks good according to the news. And she’s fine so far, so it’s fine.

Everything is fine.

Except her bolt-hole is compromised and she doesn’t have a backup.

_Ok ok, calm down. Think. I need them out of there, can’t chase them out…a distraction! Yeah!_

Quickly scanning the windows nearby, she spots what must be a printer room, a big laser printer/copier, a nice room full of fire hazards! Is laser printer…dust…what whatever it’s called, flammable? Time to find out!

She takes caerful aim. Copier? Or the paper instead? No time to think. She fires a tiny bolt of energy at high enough intensity to cut steel. It zips through the window with a tiny ‘Tink!” and hits the copier with a “PTAM!”. The pair she spotted jump. She watches the copier. Nothing’s happening. Maybe the dust needs to be airborne? There’ black stuff everywhere. On the floor but- Then there’s a lick of flame, the paper in the tray catching fire. Then-

**_FWOOM!_ **

The room explodes, the glass of the window shooting out across the ally. When flames stop shooting out the window, she can see the room is on fire. Fortunately, the door is intact and the machine didn’t actually explode, just the spilling dust, whatever it’s called. And, as she’d hoped, the fire alarm is going off. The two people in her room hurry out as the building is evacuated. Perplexed officer workers wandering out in a daze, their drone-like workday interrupted.

She drops down the side of the building and kicks off the wall at just the right time, sending her smashing through the window. She lands and rolls, coming up in her feet. Broken glass has further cut her clothes but there’s no time to worry about that. She needs to move her stuff. Especially what’s in her fridge. The dry ice in the cooler she’d stolen it in is gone. Only the fridge is cold and that’s no good for transport, not with those glass bottles. She quickly glances around the room. The blankets! She stuffs them into the fridge, hurriedly trying to fill the gaps between the bottles and stuffing the rest in all around them. It’s her only container, so she shoves the rest of her stuff in there too. Now, how to keep the door closed…

She has to give Flamestrike a moment of thanks when her eyes land on the roll of Duck Tape. It’s the original patent brand, he’d insisted on getting it for her, along with a boring explanation on the critical difference between duct tape and Duck Tape. The difference is it doesn’t matter at all and never will.

Yanking the fridge away from the wall [oh, that was easier to move than before, is she physically stronger too?] she quickly makes several passes around it with the tape, holding both the fridge and freezer doors shut while she…does what, exactly?

Where can she go? She can move the fridge now but she can’t exactly go leaping through the city somewhere carrying a whole-ass refrigerator. She needs a place to go. She needs help. She really needs a cell phone. At least a burner. She hurries out into the hall through the broken drywall of her non-door. Why they’d decided to break through she doesn’t know and it’s not important. She finds the first cubicle, which blessedly has a phone and quickly dials…she dials 99 first for an outside line while swearing, then dials…who? She dials quickly.

She almost starts crying when Ha Rin answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“Rin! I need help, my uhm…my hideout’s compromised and I shoved everything into my fridge to keep my hormones cool but I can’t really just carry that somewhere across the city. I might be panicking just a bit and-“

“Where are you?” Ha Rin’s question and tone cut her off.

Pulsar quickly gives her the address.

“Ok. Get somewhere you can hide for a little while and plug your fridge in. I’m coming.”

“What!?” Pulsar shouts, but Ha Rin’s already hung up.

But there’s no time to call her back. She needs to move. Somewhere out of the way. Somewhere she can plug in. She’s spent a lot of time on rooftops lately and one thing she’s always noticed, they have outlets, the outdoors kinds with covers. She’s not sure why. She’s never really thought about it, it just seems like a thing that’s always there.

She needs some way to haul the fridge with one hand. And when she looks around the office, it's like the universe is providing for all her needs. Across the cubicles, she spots another refrigerator. It’s just been hauled in, and there’s a dolly next to it. A dolly with a load strap.

There are going to be a lot of questions asked in this building. How did the copier explode? Why is there a swath of destroyed cubicles running from the break room to this apparently secret room? Dude, where’s my loading dolly? Only one will ever be answered, and only if they check the roof next door. The fridge is humming away next to her as she sits down next to it, her mind churning. There’s too much to process. The revelation of The Pulsar, suddenly losing her bolt-hole, whatever Ha Rin is doing, and now…her leap from the other building.

She’d hefted the fridge after making sure it was strapped tightly to the dolly. She’d carried it with one arm, she’s definitely stronger now. And then the leap. She’d sprinted, holding the fridge as steady as possible. The other building had been taller than the office building. She’d boosted her leap as hard a she dared, blasting part of the roof away. It shouldn’t have been enough. She should have landed harder. She’d felt it. But her arc had extended, she’d practically floated down to the roof, landing gently.

Can she fly now too?

She doesn’t know. She does know she can cry. Which she does for a while. After sobbing on the roof for about ten minutes she sits quietly, listening to the firefighters deal with the little blaze she’d started. It’s a long half-hour and when she first hears the staccato honking from the street below, she’s not sure what to make of it. But she’s waiting for Ha Rin, and she has no idea what that means so she goes and looks.

Down below, she sees an old beater of a truck parked in the ally. Then the honking stops and a familiar head pokes out the driver side window, looks up, and sees her. She can see the grin and Ha Rin waves at her to come down. She can’t help grinning as she picks up her fridge, leaving the dolly, and steps to the edge of the building. Recalling the sensation she’d felt when she leapt over here, she steps off. For a brief moment, she thinks she’s fucked up. She falls. Then, she slows, gold and silver energy flows around her, and she lands gently in the bed of the truck. There are ratchet straps in here. She’s never used one but it takes only a moment to figure it out and then lash the fridge into place. Then she climbs into the passenger side and stares at Ha Rin.

“You have a tuck.”

“Sure do!”

“You can _drive_?!”

Ha Rin’s laughter fills her ears as she shifts the truck into drive and they take off, away from the minor disaster of Pulsar’s former home.

Rin can indeed drive. And she seems to be able to navigate Xanadu traffic with uncanny ease. At least, to Pulsar’s eyes she does. Pulsar’s never driven anything more complex than a bicycle. Ha Rin is in her chair, which is clamped into the truck in place of a seat, and instead of pedals she has levers to manage the gas and brakes. It also looks like there’s a hydraulic rig that unfolds to lift her into position.

“So…explain?” Pulsar asks.

Ha Rin grins, “Well, Dad needs his car and Billie had this thing sitting around so I asked him if I could buy and he just gave it to me. We designed the driving rig and ta-dah! I’m an independent woman who helps her girlfriend move house.”

“My house is packed up in a refrigerator.”

“We all have our little quirks.”

“Where are we going?”

“The scrapyard. It’s closest and I assume you’re in a panic to keep your hormones cool. We’re going to plug the fridge in there, and then you’re staying at our place. For tonight at least. Dad’s going to be working late so we can break the news to him in the morning.”

“That’s-“

“And no arguments because the only HRT treatment I know of that requires cooling and a _pneumatic hypo-injector_ is the new one by MuTech which is highly experimental _and_ had a big chunk of their supply stolen a few weeks ago, delaying their human trials.”

 _Oh._ She thinks. _I think I fucked up._ And recalls that she’d been talking to Ha Rin about hypo-injector parts a week ago. And then recalls what she just said on the phone. Ha Rin makes connections fast.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

“Well…I suppose it’s not really my business to tell you what HRT regime you should be using, even if it’s stolen experimental compounds. But I do wish you’d said that you’re homeless. We could’ve helped.”

“I can’t impose on you and your dad like that.”

“As much as I plan on enjoying having you and the apartment to myself tonight, that’s not what I mean. Billie will be happy to share his space with you.”

“Rin…thanks.”

She can’t argue, doesn’t have the energy for it. Her gorgeous, brave, brilliant girlfriend to too much to handle and she doesn’t want to argue anyway. She’ll be safe at the scrapyard, with Billie there. Now Rin knows everything, so there’s nothing left to hide from her. Of course, she’ll have to tell Howard, and he’ll be a Concerned Dad about it, which makes her smile. Billie might already know and just been waiting for her to say something, expecting the best of her like always. Flamestrike…doesn’t need to know. He’s always sworn she can ask him for any help she needs but…she didn’t even consider calling him. What does that say?

When they arrive at the scrapyard, Ha Rin explains the situation. Pulsar can’t bring herself to speak, guilt crushing her throat. But when Billie looks down at her sadly, then touches her shoulder gently and nods, it’s a massive relief. He’s not blaming her, it’s like he understands her reluctance to ask. When she asks if he’s sure it’s ok for her to stay here, he smiles big and just says. “Plenty.” while motioning to the expanse of the scrapyard.

Once back at Ha Rin’s, she showers and dresses. She doesn’t have any “bedclothes”, so old jeans and a hoodie are the best she can do. When she comes out, Ha Rin is studying the bullet hole in the remains of her outfit.

Oh right, she hasn’t quite to her _everything._ And Ha Rin is glaring at her.

“Ok…so one other thing happened today.”

She manages to tell the story coherently enough, she’s pretty sure she hasn’t left anything out by the end. Ha Rin sits through it all quietly, next to her on the couch. When she finishes, she turns to look at Ha Rin and ask what she thinks, but gets interrupted by Ha Rin pushing her onto her back on the couch, laying atop her, and kissing her. This lasts for several minutes before Ha Rin lets her speak again.

“I can’t even process that right now. It’s almost too crazy. You’ve been empowered by a sentient neutron star.”

“In my head I call them The Pulsar. Like, capitalized.”

“I think I would rather not think about it for now. I think,” She kisses Pulsar’s neck, “I would like,” She kisses Pulsar’s collarbone, “For you to carry me to my bed, and stay there with me.”

Pulsar’s pulse jumps up an extra thirty beats, already worked up by Ha Rin’s kisses. “You want to…”

“Yes. If you want to.”

“Yes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Next Morning…**

Pulsar emerges from Ha Rin's room and freezes. Howard Gaumont is there, drinking his coffee, eating toast with butter and jam. It must be his day off. Why is it his day off? She thinks quickly, she knows his schedule now. The only reason he'd be off today is…Ha Rin's birthday. For a moment, he looks at her seriously, then it breaks down and he grins.

"Don't worry about it. Rin already told me she was take you to bed on her birthday. I guess with whatever this crisis is she decided to make her move a day early is all."

Pulsar's cheeks feel hot.

"Dad don't tease!" Ha Rin exclaims as she comes out behind Pulsar. "Pulsar, come help me with my PT? Dad needs to make breakfast."

Ha Rin's physical therapy starts with a series of body-weight exercises and a small Aerobic bike. She's laid out a series of hand-drawn cards for Pulsar, to help her follow along. Pulsar's job is to keep Ha Rin steady, in case she loses her balance. It gives them time to talk.

"Rin…I'm sorry about-"

"Nope, don't worry about it. Movies get it all wrong. First times are supposed to be awkward."

"But I hurt you." Pulsar glances at the purple bruise on Ha Rin's hip as she holds her steady through a series of slow squat exercises.

"You grabbed me a little hard in the heat of the moment. Besides it…kinda felt good. I liked it a little."

"You liked...the pain?"

"I think it's more I liked it along _with_ what you were doing at the time."

"Ohhh…"

"If you'd been paying a little closer attention, you'd have noticed I wasn't exactly asking you to stop."

They move on to another exercise.

"Besides," Ha Rin continues, "Even though you stopped, I think you acquitted yourself pretty well afterwards."

"I was trying to be more careful."

"I'm not made of glass you know."

"Compared to me, you are."

Rin stands from her exercise and turns to Pulsar, stepping in close while holding onto her for support.

"Pulsar, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you and I definitely want a sexual relationship with you. I _really_ enjoyed last night. I don't…" She takes a deep breath. "I don't have a lot of time. Just a few years probably, maybe longer if I'm really lucky. But later it's going to be painful and hard. So…I want someone who I'll be worth the pain to. I want it to be you."

"Rin I…I don't know…what to say?"

"I shouldn't have-"

"No! It's ok, I want to know what you're thinking all the time!" Pulsar insists. "I just…don't always understand my feelings right away. I can take down a mugger and fight a weird radioactive sewer monster just fine." Gods that thing had been disgusting. "But emotions…I just need a little time, ok? Please?"

Rin nods. "That makes sense. Ok. Help me onto the bike."

The rest of the PT passes quietly. During stretching Pulsar finds that in spite of having her hands all over Ha Rin while helping her, she can do it without an involuntary reaction. It's a workout, it's almost clinical, she's focused on Ha Rin's reactions, how deeply she can stretch and how to push her for a little extra. It's calming, in a way.

The rest of the day is that way. Howard cooks them breakfast. Pulsar has already learned from several dinners here that Howard is a highly skilled cook. In her mind that means meat, potatoes, butter, in large quantities. His breakfast, in this case birthday breakfast for his daughter, turns out to be just as fantastic. Thick blueberry pancakes, genuine Canadian syrup [she doesn't know why that's better but it does sound cool], more butter, bacon both thick cut and crispy [she takes both], "fresh" orange juice not from concentrate but at least from the nicer brands at the extra-nice grocery store. Pulsar loves Howard's cooking because it's both plentiful and flavorful. He just offers her more until she can't take it anymore and grins when she finally has to turn him down.

Finally, she's sitting with Rin on the couch while Howard takes his own shower and gets dressed because they're apparently going somewhere today. Pulsar is deciding not to think about what she could be doing out in the city.

"Take random days off." Flamestrike's lesson comes back to her. "You'll need them, and it throws everyone off. If we worked nine to five and took weekends off, we'd be predictable. We're more valuable as an unpredictable hazard to criminals."

Pulsar takes comfort in his words.

"Rin, I think I'm in love with your dad."

Ha Rin laughs and snuggles up to her.

"Also…I don't think I need to think about it anymore. I'm…I'm pretty sure I'm also in love with you. And…" She feels Ha Rin stiffen with anticipation. "I _do_ want a sexual relationship with you. And I don't know what it's going to really be like but I think…I think you're already worth the pain, as you are, right now. You don't have to become that."

She looks down at her girlfriend. Really definitely officially her girlfriend who she will be making love to(oh yes, that does sound better than fucking or having sex, yes, that's nice) on a regular basis with and telling her she loves her frequently and who she really wants to have a future with, even if it'll be short. And who knows, something could change to make it a longer future. Maybe as long as anyone can have with someone else. Rin's eyes are filling up with tears as she pulls Pulsar's head down to kiss her softly.

"Thanks." Says Ha Rin, "I'm still gonna do everything to learn and grow with the time I have. And I'm not gonna give up. If I have to invent my way out of ALS I will."

Pulsar grins at her fierce declaration. "I'll help. I'm not smart like you but I'll do whatever I can."

"Stop that, you're smart." Ha Rin scolds her, wiping her tears away. "You just didn't cram two Masters degrees into five years of school like I did."

"Ok, see, that's what I mean. Most people can't learn that much that fast. You're brilliant."

"Hmm…ok fine I am. Tell me more."

"You're gorgeous."

"I like that."

Pulsar whispers in her ear. "I love squeezing your butt."

Ha Rin lets out a squeak as Pulsar's hand grips her buttock and gives a hearty squeeze. That is until there's a cough from the doorway.

"If you girls aren't busy, Bill's expecting us. Apparently, he has gifts for all of us."

Ha Rin insists on driving them to the scrapyard. This give Pulsar and Howard a chance to sit next to each other making slightly uncomfortable small talk for about an hour.

"Is this a bit weird for you?" Pulsar finally asks.

"It…is a bit." Howard admits. "But Rin's an adult now so my opinion on the matter is only important when she wants to tease me about my discomfort."

"Oh."

"By the way, when's _your_ birthday?" He asks.

"Yeah I wanna know too!" Ha Rin adds.

"No clue. My parents never told me, we never celebrated it. And when I was emancipating myself, I didn't really look at the birth certificate I stole. And the lawyer filled out all the paperwork so I didn't need to know it. Same with the name change paperwork. And then the hall of records burned down and everything was destroyed. I have the originals, but I blacked out everything about the old me. I didn't want anything linking me back to…anyone."

"Who paid for your lawyer?" Howard inquires.

"City Immigration. That's why I came here. They asked no questions, only wanted a birth record, emancipated me under Xanadu Law and changed my name."

"And then the hall of records burned down. I remember that fire. It looked like an electrical fire." Howard muses. "That's a bit convenient."

"Right…because I surged my powers through the building's electrical wiring and started the fire while electrocuting the data servers."

"Ohhhhhhhhkaaayyy………" Howard looks just a bit worried.

"I'm dating a Bad Girl, Dad." Ha Rin says, grinning.

"Uh-huh."

"Pulsar you need to start wearing lots of leather and ride a motorcycle."

"Should I get a sidecar for you?"

"No, we'll just use leather straps to keep me attached to you on the bike. Otherwise you'll carry me everywhere."

"Sounds good."

"Hey, can we get back to the part about where Pulsar doesn't know her age? Or maybe the bit about arson?" Howard asks.

"That's the past, Dad. You should let it go. Hey look we're here!"

Ha Rin swerves hard into the scrapyard entrance and yanks on the brakes, distracting everyone when they have to hold on. Mostly distracting her father. Ha Rin has parked so her lift will set her down on the ramp. As she gets out, Pulsar notices a new walkway laid out along the ground. Billie [of course Howard would call him Bill, gods what a Dad. He's perfect.] is waiting for them by the new path. It leads away from the workshops to an enclosure of cargo containers stacked two high. Inside are three structures. Two of them turn out to be for Ha Rin and Howard. Howard is shocked and grateful, already looking around the yard and making plans for it. The houses have been designed with Ha Rin's progressing disability in mind. When they get to the third, Pulsar stops, confused.

"Who's this for?"

"For you, silly." Ha Rin says brightly, whirring past on her chair.

The interior isn't anything fancy. Designed with the same accessibility intent as the first to. It seems Billie has put a lot into sound-proofing the walls and roof, a necessity when building out of steel plates. It's quiet. Her refrigerator is humming away in a kitchen area. There's a bedroom and a real bed with a new mattress, and new bedclothes. There's a bunch of new street clothes hanging in the closet and folded in the dresser. There's running water, heat, a shower and _separate_ bath tub, an AC unit. The little houses aren't big spaces, enough for one person, or a couple.

"This…it's…" Pulsar's throat feels tight. "For me?"

"Well, Billie asked what I wanted for my birthday," Ha Rin explains, "I wanted to move out of the apartment, but I didn't want to leave Dad all alone. So, Billie, he just says 'Neighbors.' and sketches three houses. I asked who the third one was for and…"

"Pulsar. Homeless." Wrecker adds from the front door. He doesn't fit in these homes.

"Yeah so…I already knew about that." Ha Rin admits.

It's too much. Pulsar sits heavily down in a chair by the table. Her chair. Her table. Which doesn't make sense right now. Her vision blurs as tears fill her eyes, flowing freely down her cheeks. In a moment, Ha Rin wheels over next to her and takes her hand.

"Sorry, is it too much?"

"Just…yesterday, and last night, this morning, now this, it's a lot to take in I guess. It's…"

"Overwhelming?"

"Yeah."

"Do you need a minute?"

"Yes please."

They sit together, holding hands, while Pulsar tries to settle her emotions. She closes her eyes, just feeling the walls around her, Ha Rin's warm hand in hers, letting the events of the past two days swirl in her head and settle. She can feel another presence now too, The Pulsar sensing her experiences. It feels nice to have another someone to share this with. She can't carry all these emotions alone, she's sure of it. She's already broken down twice in two days. But knowing someone else is sensing her feelings as well makes it all feel lighter.

"Ok…" She wipes her tears away. "Ok. I'm good."

Letting Ha Rin go she goes outside to Billie. The Wrecker who built three houses for his friends just because he could.

"Thanks Billie. Would it be ok if I give you a hug?"

Billie nods and she hugs him. It's like hugging a sequoia that gently pats her back with one giant hand. She lets go when she feels him stiffening. Billie isn't one for touching others, much. But friends are allowed little gifts like short hugs, or fist bumps and gentle shoulder touches.

"Well, shall we stay here tonight? I noticed the kitchens are fully stocked and equipped. Though there's a bit more frozen pizza in those other two freezers than I'm strictly comfortable with." Howard turns to Billie, "You didn't have to buy all that food Bill."

Wrecker shrugs. "Plenty."

"And you love to share. Well, as a man who gets to stop paying rent to a landlord I hate, I'm not going to complain when my new friend builds me an entire house with such a well-equipped kitchen. You girls enjoy yourselves. Me?" He grins, rubbing his hands together. "I'm gonna started on dinner."

Wrecker wordlessly leaves with a wave and it's just the two of them standing on Pulsar's new porch.

"Soooo……" Ha Rin starts, "Yesterday there were a bunch of distractions and more important stuff so I didn't ask but…you _floated_ down from the top of that building carrying a refrigerator. Can you fly now?"

Pulsar considers the question. She shouldn't have been able to make that leap. Not with the force she put into it and the weight she was carrying, she's sure she's learned how to gauge her abilities that well, at least. But then the drop down…she _had_ slowed her descent. By a lot.

"Maybe?"

"Wanna try?" Ha Rin's enthusiastic grin is infectious.

"For my girlfriend on her birthday, I'll fly to the moon and grab some rocks if she wants." Pulsar replies, grinning back.

"Oh~ romantic."

Pulsar takes a few steps away, unsure if she's about to blast off like a rocket or just float up. Closing her eyes, she tries to recapture the sensation of the first two times. Not the desperation, the panic, but the sense of weightlessness. Not the unpleasant feeling of falling, but untethered sense of being freed from the Earth. She feels her power start to reach out, coil around her, course through her body, making her hyper-aware of herself. She _has_ changed, she realizes, her body is becoming more like who she knows herself to be. It comes with a sense of joy and relief and suddenly she feels herself lifting up. Ha Rin's gasp of surprise jolts her out of her meditation and she finds herself looking _down_ at Ha Rin.

"Oh…wow…" She whispers. "Rin…this feels incredible. I think I can-"

She looks up and suddenly shoots up into the air! As she accelerates the wind whips through her hair, though it doesn't seem to sting her eyes. Then she feels something _pushing_ out from her body and the wind becomes a breeze, though she can still feel herself accelerating. There's _thut_ sound, as she goes faster, higher. She passes through the clouds in a second and continues accelerating. The sky is getting darker, she can see the stars. She doesn't stop until they're as clear as the clearest night with the city power out. Something she's never seen but it must be like that.

She must be in orbit.

Holy shit she's in orbit! Without a spacesuit!

For an instant she panics and clamps her hand over her mouth. A moment later, she takes it away. She hasn't been breathing for a while now. She stops trying to, and feels fine. She can still feel her body, her power filling every particle of her, sustaining her. It's more than healing, her power can sustain her cells, protect her from the damage of the vacuum. She'd felt a shell form almost instinctively to keep the win away, and now it energized her body while she floated here, in low orbit, staring at the unfiltered glory of space.

 _This is so fucking cool._ She things. _I gotta show Rin._

With that thought she turns, simply willing it, and dives for the Earth. Re-entry is even better than the movies depict it. She lets the Earth's gravity accelerate her, adding to her own force, for lack of a better word. The air around her ignites. This time she focuses on the force around her, lets it shrink down to her skin, allowing the fire of re-entry to envelope her. She can even feel some of the warmth of it now. It both cozy, and violent. She can feel the air thickening and after a while, lets herself slow to merely terminal velocity, feeling the balance between gravity and her own will settle in place.

She can see Xanadu now. A great round spot in the landscape, resolving into concentric circles of the major streets, then the individual neighborhoods and districts. Then the scrapyard. As she nears her new house, she approaches in a lazy spiral, landing gently in front of a shocked Ha Rin, the metal walkway warm on her bare feet.

_Wait, bare feet?_

She doesn't get a chance to think about it because Ha Rin is Up out of her chair and hugging her.

"That was incredible! I saw your re-entry! It looked like a meteorite heading for the city for a second. I'm sure some astronomer is panicking right now." Then she lowers her voice. "I like this look but maybe don't de-orbit with normal clothes next time?"

Pulsar looks down. Her clothes are totally gone. She immediately hefts Ha Rin in one arm, grabs her wheel chair, and hurries inside. Kicking the door closed behind them while Ha Rin laughs delightedly.

"Maybe shouldn't have let the uh…protective bubble, I guess, go skintight."

Ha Rin giggles and kisses her. More than kissing her, she's caressing Pulsar as she's held.

"C'mon." She whispers in Pulsar's ear before kissing right below it. "Dad won't have dinner ready for hours and…I want you right now."

Pretty soon, Ha Rin looks like she just went through re-entry herself. A trail of discarded clothes leads to Pulsar's new bed. And Pulsar isn't thinking about better flying technique for a while.

Afterwards, the evening consists of more of Howards cooking and baking. Further examples of expertly prepared meat, which Pulsar did end up flying back to the apartment to get since they'd been brined and marinated beforehand, as well as an incredibly dense and dark almost to the point of being black chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting, and dark, milk, and white chocolate chips inside and scattered atop the frosting. Pulsar gets to surprise Howard and Billie with her flying, this time carrying a happily shrieking Ha Rin up with her, though she merely circles the little compound a few times before landing. Partnered de-orbiting will have to wait.

Eventually, the party is over. As night advances Pulsar finds herself in bed next to Ha Rin. She'd insisted Pulsar join her in her house, and revealed the hidden door between their bedrooms. A feature she'd asked Billie to include and her own design as well. It was totally invisible. Then they'd showered together, made love in the shower, then after drying off, gone to bed and made love again. In the midst of it all, Pulsar's powers had almost instinctively turned on, suffusing them both with gold light. Ha Rin had found her sore muscles, a result of pushing too hard during her PT that morning, healed. Now, she was sleeping in Pulsar's arms, while Pulsar's thoughts whirled.

What if, what if, what if. Could this healing ability end up saving Ha Rin? It'd healed that woman from a fatal wound. She'd rebounded from a certainly fatal gunshot. Ha Rin had said she usually had one or two bad cramps in the evening. Pulsar had seen them last night. But tonight…her body is relaxed, free of pain. Maybe she's only eased the pain, that'd be almost miraculous by itself. She's been using her powers halfway on instinct since the very beginning, what if in trying to heal Ha Rin, she ends up hurting her? What if she can only heal injuries? What if's whirl through her mind. She needs to know more. About herself, about her power, The Pulsar's power, about Ha Rin and the human body and ALS and a hundred other things.

She makes a decision. She can't, she _won't_ , let ignorance on her part endanger Ha Rin. She needs to understand her own power better. She needs to train more, learn more, until she's doing everything at to the absolute best of her potential.

Eventually, her thoughts slow and she falls asleep, relaxed by Ha Rin's steady breathing and the warmth of her in her arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day is filled with moving. Which means mostly it's filled with Pulsar flying. Perhaps some newspaper will run an article about a flying teenager removing furniture from an apartment building in Ring Four, perhaps not. But super-strength and flight make moving go faster. Especially when about half of the old furniture gets left behind.

After that, the next few weeks are mostly Pulsar handling petty crime at night, keeping out of the limelight, while trying and frustratingly failing to find new information on the so-called Menace. All the while Ha Rin and Billie work on her new suit. There are fittings, re-fittings, measurements, redesigns, an inordinate amount of time spent nude in front of Ha Rin as she puts Pulsar through a wide series of yoga-like poses to help her design the skin-tight portion of the suit.

"Do I _have_ to be naked?" She asks one day.

"Well…I'm starting to realize maybe not." Ha Rin replies. "Do you want to put something on?"

Thinking for a bit, Pulsar shakes her head. "It's fine if it's just you, Rin. I…kinda like it."

So, the fitting sessions continue. And when Pulsar talks about going back to school, maybe college, it's Howard who steps up. Apparently, before his ex-wife destroyed his reputation, he'd been a professor at the Xanadu Technical college.

"I mean, it's different subjects but I know how to put together a lesson plan, and I can just look up the curriculums of other teachers." He explains one evening at dinner. "I can teach right here, no worries about accidental identity exposure."

"But Dad, Pulsar's her proper name, not her secret identity. She doesn't need to hide it."

"Flamestrike always says to keep in touch with the people of the city. So, some regular classes are probably good. It's not that I don't want you to teach me, Howard. But I need to be in touch with the city if I'm going to protect it from more than just muggers. I've been dealing with muggers all summer. I've gotta get out among the people, get a Twitter account or something. I wouldn't mind a tutor though. Especially for math. I barely passed math for my GED. English wasn't great either it just took forever."

"Oh?" Howard looks speculative. "And tell me, how much trouble do you have sitting still?"

"What? I'm sitting still right now."

"Then stop bouncing your leg."

Pulsar's foot plants on the floor with a thud. "See? I'm fine." She insists as tiny curls of silver and gold energy begin flowing across her shoulders and down her arms. They curl around her torso and down her legs as well.

"Well, I'd have to do a bit of research but, that sounds like ADHD and Dyslexia to me."

"Kinda does to me too." Ha Rin agrees.

Pulsar huffs a bit and hurries to finish her food. "I gotta go patrol." She says, hurrying out the door.

Out in the city, she flies for a while until she reaches a random neighborhood. It's like dozens of others, well lit, close enough to downtown to commute, enough money to be a target, not enough to earn a constant police presence. There's a mix of apartment buildings and townhouses, irregular rooftops and alleys. She moves to the edge of it, where the residential meets the downtown district. The alleys are wider here, more tempting as shortcuts, and easier to hide in. She settles in atop an office building that affords a good view of the street. It's getting dark now and the people walking home, or to late shifts, are thinning out. The street lights here are sparser, and the lights of downtown marquis and close packed businesses don't reach here. It's just the right territory for a mugger to get a mark and get away quick.

It doesn't take long to spot _her_ first mark of the night. He's a skinny guy, holding onto something tightly in his jacket pocket. Probably a weapon, and according to Flamestrike, guns are on the rise in the city. She'd like to just go down there now, spook him and send him running now, but Flamestrike says you gotta catch them in the act. It scares them more, sends them home for the night and leaves a stronger impression. It's supposed to be the ideal method if she's not going to arrest them, and vigilantes don't have arrest authority in Xanadu.

Wait a second, why is she able to get such a good look at this guy? She can see the contrasting light and shadows of the street, but she can also pick out details like his frayed jacket cuffs, pocked skin and scraggly beard, his blown-out sneakers repaired with duct tape. She can even tell it's duct tape and not Duck Tape™ by the color and weave. She blinks, and can still see those details. If she lets herself lose focus, it goes away, but when she really stares, at anything in the street, she can see it just as well as if she'd been right next to it.

"Ok…improved eyesight. Cool." She mutters to herself.

Movement catches her eye. A woman walking down the street, on the same side as the probably mugger. Pulsar gets ready. She'll wait, better to let the victim hand over the money than interrupt and give the mugger a chance to panic and shoot them. She watches as he steps out in front of the woman and pulls a knife, that's good, knives are safe to interrupt. He's demanding her purse and she's about to leap in when the woman pulls a can of mace from her pocket and lets him have it. Pulsar can't help be laugh as the mugger curses and drops his knife as the woman swings her bag and catches him in the head, sending him over sideways, and she starts running. Or as close to running as someone can in a pencil skirt and heels. Now the guy is cursing at her, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve, and then…he pulls a gun.

She must not have got his eyes too well because he's aiming at her. Pulsar's not sure she can close the gap before he fires. Her hand flares with power, she takes aim and-

**FSHKASH~!**

There's a streak of blue light, a crackle of electricity, and the mugger is staring at his empty hand. Pulsar doesn't wait, she launches herself down, across the street, and slams into the mugger. Not too hard, she hears his breath go out in a "hurlf" sound and then he's slamming into the building next to him and crumpling to the ground.

Then she looks around for the speedster. _Holy shit a speedster. Flamestrike said there aren't any in the city and here's a speedster!_ They're supposed to be rare. None have ever come to Xanadu. And they're dangerous. They're supposed to attract trouble, according to Flamestrike, though he never explained why. She almost doesn't notice the mugger staggering to his feet. She whirls on him and flares with power. His eyes bug and he manages a staggering run away from her down and alley.

"Come out?" She calls, but not too loud, "I'm a friend."

There's a zip of blue lightning and suddenly they're standing a few meters away. They've got a lean build, and are dressed in street clothes, wearing some kind of cloth mask over their eyes, carrying a duffel bag, and brushing a few embers from their hoodie and jeans. Their hair is _bright_ blue and sticking up in spikes.

"Hey. Nice tackle." They say. Their voice is a little high, and sounds friendly enough. "Cool powers too. Love the colors."

She smiles, "Cool save with the gun. I wasn't sure I could take it without seriously maiming the guy." She focuses on them. "You know your shoes are melting?"

They pick up a foot, bouncing lightly and easily on the other, and inspects the sole of the sneaker. "Haha! Yeah, it's a problem. You've got good eyes. I like the way they glow too."

Pulsar is glad she's hooded and masked and dark skinned or her blush would light up the street. "Thanks. I'm Pulsar."

"Seriously?! I've heard of you. You look different."

"I'm getting a new suit made. The last one…uh…wasn't tough enough."

"No kidding. I know that feel. I'm uh…" They seem to think for a moment, "Blue Shift. I'm new in town. Also, I'm a guy, if you couldn't tell." Then he whispers to himself, though Pulsar is surprised she can hear it. "No that's stupid isn't it?"

"No kidding, you're Xanadu's first speedster. Cool name too."

"You really like it!" She can see his blush going up his cheeks, even his ears turn pinkish. "Phew, ok, that' a relief. First speedster though, that'll draw attention for sure. Not sure I like that. You uh…think you could introduce me to your tailor? Help the new guy out? Speed doesn't just kill my shoes, I'm gonna end replacing more clothes than I can afford if this keeps up."

"Well…I'd have to ask. I don't have a real identity to hide, Pulsar's my real name. There's other people involved; you know?"

"No yeah yeah, that's cool. Uh…how can I contact you or something?"

Pulsar considers this. "You know where Scrapyard 3 is?"

"I mean, I can probably find it."

"Meet me there tomorrow afternoon."

"Sounds good, uh…" He pauses, "Are you gonna be fine out here? Don't need backup? Cuz these shoes are done for. I went to fast trying to catch the bullet in case that guy got his shot off, which it why they melted instead of just wearing down fast like usual. And I don't have a spare pair. I can't maneuver with shoes like this."

Pulsar waves for him to stop before he tries to explain and apologize at the same time any further. "I got it. I'm usually on my own anyway. I just didn't expect the gun. Should have, they're becoming more common lately. Just means I gotta change tactics."

"Cool cool cool, I sorta figured just wanted to be sure and not leave ya hangin'. I'm gonna get going, I'm kinda late for something and now I gotta stick to uh…not glowing speeds? Anyway, see ya tomorrow!"

And then he zips away, only a hint of blue light in his wake. Pulsar smiles. He seemed nice. Plus, his jeans were pretty tight and she could see his really nice- _No! Stop that. You're with Rin. You shouldn't be staring at other butts! Get back to work!_ She shakes her head and leaps to the top of the building she was on. Time to change positions. With her newfound enhanced vision, she can look into the alleys and spot potential muggers. There are only a couple others tonight, and she decides to scare them off before they can try anything. One pulls a gun and the bullet stings only a little bit. She breaks his hand slapping it away. Not the best solution but effective. Next time she'll try to grab it or something.

She returns home gets her Late Dinner, she's begun thinking of it as, then showers, and without even remembering she'd left Howard and Ha Rin mad, slips into bed with her girlfriend.

"Mmm…hey." Ha Rin mumbles sleepily.

"Oh…sorry, I didn't mean to…I wasn't thinking." Pulsar says stiffly. She usually doesn't sleep with Ha Rin on nights she does late patrols.

"It's ok. I was worried you were mad at me. I was already kinda awake. Cramps."

"No, Rin, I'm not mad. Actually…I sorta forgot about it." Hardly thinking, again, her hand glows softly gold and she rests it on her thigh.

"Ohh~ yeah…that’s better, thanks. Pulsar it's ok to be mad, I just don't know why."

"I used to get teased a lot is all, about that stuff. I never understood it and along with everything else it's just…kinda sensitive. I know Howard just wants to help."

"Well, he spent the whole evening reading about ADHD and Dyslexia. He's got some ideas on how to help, but it' be a good idea to see an expert, and maybe get a prescription."

"You know how that'll go."

"I do. So, we'll just look for someone who's actually good for you, or just bully them into treating you well." She grins.

"Heh, ok. Oh! And speaking of helping…" She quickly explains the situation with Blue Shift and her impression of him. Including an embarrassed and apologetic admittance that she'd noticed his nice butt. Which makes Ha Rin giggle.

"It's ok. First of all, I trust you, and you don't have to tell me every time you spot a nice butt or a cute face or anything. Unless I'm there because I'll wanna see them too." Her grin makes Pulsar giggle a little. "As for helping, yes you should bring him here. I'm sure Dad will be ok with it, and I doubt there's much on this earth that Billie sees as a physical threat. He'll probably be happy to have a new friend coming around."

"Ok. I'm glad you want to help. And for the record, I still like _your_ butt best." She moves her hand and gives Ha Rin's rear a firm squeeze.

"Mmm…that's good to know. Show me just how much you like my butt."

It's another hour before they sleep. But they both agree it's time well spent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, it's Howards turn to find that Pulsar's not mad at him. Sitting through a series of home tests also reveals Pulsar's learning issues are not nearly as bad as she thought.

"If I had to guess I'd say there's middling ADD but no Dyslexia for certain. Though I'd suggest keeping constant notes during lecture." Howard concludes, "That, and it's pretty clear nobody taught you to do math properly and just tried to make you memorize formulas all the time. Math is a skill. Not a series of facts you have to know."

"So…"

"So, you're not dumb, Pulsar. In fact, I'd say your learning style is fairly similar to my own. Should make tutoring you a lot easier."

Pulsar sighs, relieved, "I thought it was gonna be this whole…thing. Feels a little, anticlimactic."

"Well I was probably being over dramatic last night." Howard apologizes. "I just hate seeing kids under-served by school just because they don't think 'normally'."

Howard ends up wholeheartedly agreeing to inviting Blue Shift. As predicted, Wrecker sees it as an opportunity for a new friend to visit his scrapyard. So, as the afternoon rolls around, Pulsar finds herself wandering around another scrapyard on the other side of the city, Scrapyard Number Five. To put it mildly the scrapyards, all thirteen of them, are the foulest, most toxic sites anyone could possibly imagine. One of the few serious environmental precautions forced on Xanadu by the three nations its railways served happened to be the sealing of the scrapyards. So, when they'd been built, they'd been lined with massive blocks of concrete, the gaps filled with pure clay, then a layer of clay on top of that, then another layer of concrete blocks, and then a wall of laminated steel, concrete, and clay earth, all to seal in any toxic waste that might leach out of the scrapyards. Now they flood regularly, then evaporate, leaving behind toxic salts and other unpleasantness leached from the tons of random scrap tossed into them.

Pulsar looks out into the toxic wasteland from the wall around it, and compares this to Billie's scrapyard. His is clean, it has proper soil, the scrap is organized, he's built some kind of chemical reclamation machine that breaks toxins down into useful chemicals. She doesn't know much chemistry but she's pretty sure it's a masterpiece of chemical engineering. Howard's already planted a thriving lawn of native prairie grasses. Meanwhile, out here at Number Five…it's a wasteland. She wonders what the others are like, wonders if people are living here. It'd be brutal, toxic, and dangerous but…it'd sure be private.

"The fuck are you doing here?"

Pulsar turns towards the voice only to find a set of vicious claws slashing at her face. She barely hurls herself backwards in time to avoid being blinded.

"Also, what'd you do to Molly?"

Possum Girl, because that's who it is, snatches up a hunk of rebar and swings for Pulsar's head. Pulsar catches it. Which stings, a lot.

"Who's Molly?" She asks, yanking the rebar from Possum Girl's grasp with all her strength, and only barely managing it, and tossing it into the scrapyard.

"Dark hair? Leather jacket? Likes guns? Chased you off a rooftop a few weeks ago?"

Possum Girl hurls herself at Pulsar, claws reaching, snapping at her with her sharp teeth when she can. Pulsar backs up, barely able to keep the claws and teeth a bay, until finally she unleashes an omnidirectional blast of energy from her whole body, hurling her opponent away several hundred feet.

"You mean the one that shot me in the chest?" She shouts at Possum Girl. "Because I accidentally almost killed her, then I healed her and let her go."

Possum Girl pauses, "She wasn't supposed to do that. Menace doesn't like killing."

"Lucky she failed at it then."

"Look, that wasn't supposed to happen ok? She was just supposed to let you now Menace knew you were there. So now that you know that, get outta here. Yard Five is _my_ territory."

"Wait, you really live-"

Pulsar's incredulous question is interrupted by a sonic _boom_ and something impacting Possum Girl in the chest, hurling her bodily into a high arc that ends somewhere in the middle of the scrapyard. Her scrapyard.

Looking around she spots a shock of spiky blue anime hair waving at her from the base of the wall. She leaps into a long arc that carries her over the thick bushes and trees that cover the earthworks of the outer wall of the scrapyard. Blue Shift is there, with the same mask but new clothes and new shoes, all bright blue.

"How hard did you throw that? And what did you throw?"

He grins, "Only like, 300 kph." He pronounces it "kay-pee-aych". He shrugs. "It's Possum Girl, I may be from out of town but even I've heard of her. I'm pretty sure she's basically unkillable."

Enraged shrieking can be heard from the scrap yard, along with the sound of large hunks of scrap being hurled.

"We should go." Pulsar says.

"Cool. Where to?"

"Scrapyard Two, that's where we're actually based."

"Ok. Race ya?"

Another metallic crash, closer this time.

"Ok. You're on."

There's a zipping sound and a flash of blue and he's gone. Pulsar barely registers it as she's launching herself with all her might into the air. The sonic boom makes the trees shudder and raises dust from the nearby road. In the air she thinks fast, makes a high arc and aims for the entrance of Scrapyard Two. It's coming up fast. Too fast. Shit shit shit too fast! She cuts loose with a blast of energy in a desperate attempt to break her speed. There's a plume of dirt, dust and gravel and after landing, she finds herself climbing out of a crater about ten feet deep in a cloud of dust. When she emerges, she finds Ha Rin, joined by Blue Shift, laughing at her.

"Yeah yeah, super funny wipe out by Pulsar." She says rolling her eyes at them, while brushing dirt from her clothes.

"If it's any consolation, he only got here about a half second before you did." Says Ha Rin, still giggling.

"But only because my shoes gave out three quarters of the way here." Blue shift adds, pointing to smoking pair of wrecked sneakers next to him. "Luckily, I brought spare pair." The new pair is also blue like the rest of his outfit.

"Ok, so, Blue Shift, my girlfriend Ha Rin. Rin, this is blue shift. He just threw a rock so hard it knocked Possum Girl halfway across Scrapyard Five."

"Really?" Ha Rin looks surprised.

"Well, more like I carried it for a couple blocks and let it go on the right trajectory, but that's pretty much the same thing." Blue Shift admits. "And if you worried about Possum Girl, she was throwing scrap around in the yard when we ran away from her so I think she'll be fine."

"Possum Girl's durability is legendary, yeah." Ha Rin nods, "Ok Blue Shift, lets step into my lab and get some clues on what makes you fast."

Ha Rin's Lab is even bigger than Billie's machine shop, and it's partially underground. Pulsar's not sure how she and Billie found all the materials to build everything, but now it's filled with things like particle detectors and spectral analysis computers and other science stuff that sounds straight up fictional. For the next few minutes, Ha Rin puts Blue Shift through a series of short exercises, as fast as he can do them. After about an hour of pointing detectors and high-speed cameras and other gear at Blue Shift, who has now shed his shirt and stripped down to runner shorts and tank-top to keep his street clothes from being singed, Pulsar is starting to appreciate my than just his butt. His pale, lean, fit runners build, his rather cute face [what's not hidden by the mask at least], his long, muscular legs, even his hair, makes her lick her lips unconsciously, and has her clenching her teeth when she notices it. Of course, with the way Ha Rin is watching him, she doesn't feel too bad about it. And after what they'd talked about the other night…it still feels a little wrong, but she decides to ignore that feeling.

Besides being a total smoke show, it turns out Blue Shift is funny and personable, though he spends a lot of time discounting his own abilities. He claims he can't fight, he's just fast. He doesn't know much about anything, even when he recognizes some of Ha Rin's tools and understands their uses. It doesn't take long for Pulsar to hear a bit of her own words in his self-depreciation. He's clearly not dumb or ignorant and…oh, now some things make sense. Thinking back to her own past, it's pretty clear to her now he's been treated pretty badly just for being a little smarter, or not thinking the way others do.

Howard's words come back to her, ""I just hate seeing kids under-served by school just because they don't think 'normally'." He's like her. Heck he might be even more distractible.

"Ok, I think we've done all we can do here." Ha Rin announces. "I wanna show you guys something."

Ha Rin guides them out of the lab. Pulsar walks next to her while Blue Shift, back in his street clothes, darts off the get a better look at whatever catches his eye.

"You weren't kidding." Ha Rin says wryly as they walk. "About his butt. And gods, the rest? Whuff."

"Right?!" Pulsar agrees, partly relieved Ha Rin agrees with her, partly excited to share this with her girlfriend. "I mean, I don't usually like any guys but…just wow."

"Pretty sure this confirms us both as bisexual, or something like it."

"Something. Sure." Pulsar agrees distractedly, watching Blue Shift zip ahead to check out some interesting piece of scrap. "And he seems really…"

"Sweet?" Ha Rin suggests.

"Yeah. And he's so down on himself, I just wanna like, give him a hug, you know?"

"You do that too."

"I'm noticing it now, how do you stand it?"

"I remember that sexy butt of yours." Ha Rin says with a grin as Pulsar's face heats up. "Besides you're not going to have any excuses for calling yourself dumb once you start school and Dad starts tutoring you."

"What about school? I'm starting in the fall too. What are you planning to study?" Blue Shift asks rapidly, arriving just as Ha Rin is ending her sentence.

"I'm not studying anything." Answers Ha Rin, "I don't have time to waste on more school. Pulsar is starting, and I'm pretty sure she's got a bunch of gen-eds to get through first."

"Yeah I kinda dropped out and got a GED as soon as I could." Pulsar adds. "Cuz of…issues. Various reasons."

"Ah, well you should apply to Xanadu Poly-Technical. I'm going there. There's no like, strict admission requirements. Plus they're corporate funded so if you get a corporate sponsor, they're free."

"I dunno about signing on with a corporation…" Pulsar hesitates.

"Oh! Well that's the best part! If a city affiliated super writes you a recommendation letter, and you're a super yourself, you can get in on a city sponsor ship, no strings attached except that you have to promise to defend the city from, you know, threats and stuff."

"You've got a super-sponser?" Ha Rin asks.

"Well…actually no. I was kinda hoping you guys might know someone."

Ha Rin looks to Pulsar significantly.

"Well…yeah I could ask Flamestrike."

"You know _Flamestrike_?" Blue Shift exclaims.

"He's been my mentor for a while. We haven't been in touch much because he's got a new trainee and I've been trying to stick to lightweight stuff while we work on my new super-suit. He doesn't really get, or try to get, certain things. But he's never refused to help and I asked."

"You have trouble asking for help." Ha Rin points out.

"Yes. I'm aware. Working on it." Pulsar says testily. "So, I'm gonna ask Flamestrike about this. He might know some not-so-public details about it too."

"And speaking of not-so-public, we're here." Ha Rin announces.

They're standing before a cargo container embedded in a huge pile of random iron and steel scrap. Ha Rin presses a control on her chair and the doors open silently. Inside looks like a plain shipping container. Grinning, Ha Rin leads them in and the doors close. There's a moment of darkness before dim red light fills the container. Then, the floor begins to move, down, slowly opening into a tall wide room filled with machinery, devices Pulsar can't name or guess the function of, robotic arms and machinery moving rapidly, a central area filled with control panels and monitors, all currently black and blank.

"What…how?" Pulsar asks.

"Billie and I…Billie is Wrecker by the way, Blue Shift."

"Wrecker!? Seriously?"

"You'll meet him later. Anyway, Billie and I have been working on this for a while. Billie was already hollowing this place out. There's lots more space than just this, which is the assembly floor. There's also a space that's going to be for training, kind of an X-Men inspired Danger Room thing. And since you can fly now, we added a big circular track for speed tests. Which we can easily alter as a running track for Blue Shift here."

"But…how did you have time to build all this?" Pulsar exclaims.

"Well Billie was already building a lot of it. He's wanted to be able to support young supers for free for a while, so most of this was already done. We've integrated my designs as well, which didn't take long. Right now, Pulsar, they're working on your suit." She turns to Blue Shift, "And I've already got some ideas for yours. I'm basing the prototype on Pulsar's since you've got a lot of energy flowing around you too, with some minor changes to account for friction and heat. Superconducting fabrics and stuff. And, there's one more special item I've been working on."

Ha Rin leads them through the underground complex, which she explains goes all the way down to the concrete shield and is still mostly empty space, to what Pulsar is able to identify as a robotics lab. Inside, is…

"That's a power suit." Blue Shift says immediately.

"It's…sized for you, Rin." Pulsar says uncertainly. "And it looks…"

Ha Rin grins at her. "It's. Alien. Tech." She says slowly, precisely. "Billie found it sitting in the scrap yard. Empty, no alien inside. He showed it to me the first time I came here on my own. I've hacked it, taken control of all it's systems. It's designed to fit any wearer. Plus, I've added a lot of tech of my own. Things I can't power with Earth tech just yet. There's a plasma lance, a gauss cannon that came with it that I had to modify since it was made for some alien material, now it fires steel slugs at various velocities. It's got an energy shield. The shell itself is some kind of super-dense alloy that's basically indestructible. I think I can replicate it if I can get my hands on about a half-ton of depleted uranium. I already figured out how to make the fusion beam I'll need to turn that DU into a post-transuranic element I need for the alloy. But, all in all, I'm finally ready for a trail run."

She stands up from her chair and takes Pulsar by the arms, looking her in the eyes.

"I have never for one second planned on just sitting here building tech while I worry about you stirring up trouble out in the city. I'm coming with, so we can stir up even more."

Pulsar doesn't know what to say, so she wraps Ha Rin in her arms and kisses her.

The kiss lasts until she can practically feel the uncomfortable silence of Blue Shift behind her.

"Sorry." Pulsar apologizes.

"So…you guys are forming a super-team."

"Yes, and you are absolutely invited to join us." Ha Rin answers immediately.

"Wha- really? But you hardly know me." Blue Shift's blush is so deep it could almost mix with his them and turn him purple.

"Well we've got a good feeling about you." Ha Rin says with a smile.

"Plus, lest night you were gonna try to _catch_ a bullet to keep that woman safe." Pulsar adds, "That's good enough for me."

"You guys…" Blue Shift's eyes look teary behind his mask.

"You wanna hug?" Ha Rin offers.

"If…if that's ok…"

Pulsar and Ha Rin open their arms and he joins them. It's only a little bit awkward, but to Pulsar it feels right. Ha Rin smells nice. So does Blue Shift, for that matter, with just a hint of ozone. Both of them together, she wouldn’t mind if this went on longer. But finally, Blue Shift steps away.

"Since we're gonna be on a team-" He says, and pulls his mask off before either of them can object. "Uh, my name's Alex Paris. I'm seventeen and I'm pretty sure I got my speed by being struck by lightning. Had to be more than normal lightning but yeah, that. You guys have been so open with me I thought…it didn't feel right to be keeping secrets."

"Well, don't feel pressured to tell us everything at once." Ha Rin says.

"Yeah, we'll have time to get to know each other. Like as soon as our suit are ready, we're gonna need to train together. Figure out some basic tactics, learn how everyone moves, that kind of thing."

The other two nod.

"And we should pick a leader." Ha Rin adds, "I nominate Pulsar."

"What?"

"Oh! Seconded!" Alex agrees.

"Hold on."

"You’ve got the training from Flamestrike, and more experience, even if it's a few months. If you wanna bring him in to help that's fine with me too."

"That'd be _so cool_." Alex agrees.

"Ok. But I'm not sure if I wanna tell him about…all this." She motions to the complex around them.

"That's fine. So, you agree? Is the vote unanimous?"

Pulsar sighs. "Fine. I agree."

Ha Rin smiles, "I have a good feeling about this."


	3. Origins: Pulsar #3 - Team Building and Development Exercises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team starts coming together. New tech, new relationships, new discoveries.

Origins: Pulsar #3

It will take three days for the super suits to be ready. Rin decides she won't take her test run in the alien power armor until they're ready. This gives the young new team some time to deal with a few small tasks in the meantime. First, it turns out Alex has a few things he wants to share with the team.

"It's really not totally accurate to say _I_ was struck by lightning to gain my powers. It's really a 'we' type of situation."

"We?" Pulsar asks as they step out of the elevator and back into the sunlight.

"Yup, uh, before I do this, how do you guys feel about meeting my parents? They both know about my powers and what I do, well, what I wanna do."

Wrecker had me them down in the complex, apparently putting the finishing touches on a forging machine that would be making armor plates for the super suits. He'd take one look at Alex, smiled happily and said. "New friend." In the most matter of fact way, before strolling off to his own elevator that lead to his private workshop.

"I can pretty much guarantee my dad will want to meet your parents." Rin says. "And if they're even a little like him, they'll immediately adopt Pulsar and she needs as many parents as possible."

"What- I-" Puslar stammers, trying to object, then shakes her head. "Sure, bring on the surrogate parents. I don't…hate it or anything."

"So, what are you about to do?"

"Call my dog."

"Your dog?" Rin and Pulsar ask simultaneously.

Alex places his fingers to his mouth and lets loose a powerful, shrill, multitoned whistle that definitely carries further than any normal sound should.

"I think you're gonna like this." Alex says with a smile.

There's a sharp _crack_ and a streak of blue lighting zips into the scrapyard and right of to the three teens. Suddenly standing before them, is a medium sized dog, square of build, upright pointed ears, triangular face, slightly curled tail, and thick golden fur with black markings around its ruff and up the center of its tail.

"Meet Zap! He was struck by lightning in a field. Then, when I went to grab him, I got struck too. I'm pretty sure he gained the power first, then the second strike linked us."

"Ohhh! He's gorgeous!" Rin exclaims. "C'mere Zap! Come say hi!"

Zap immediately trots over and places his front paws up on the armrest of her chair with a friendly bark.

"Ohhh! Yes, you are such a good boy! Such a handsome little man!" Rin coos at him while petting his head and mushing his furry face.

"So, why would this immediately involve your parents?" Pulsar asks, while grinning at her girlfriend fussing over the _very_ adorable Zap.

This is when Alex's phone rings. And Pulsar notices, when he answers, that she can hear the other side as clearly as if they're standing right there. _Super hearing too? Is it just all super senses now?_

"Alex!" A mans voice says, "Zap just ran out through the door!"

"It's ok, Pop. I called him." Alex says reassuringly. "I made some new friends and we're doing introductions."

"I wish you would have warned us, son." Says another man's voice? "He burned a hole in the dog door!"

Alex sighs, "He's not supposed to sprint out like that. I promise I'll fix it."

"Oh, it's not so bad. I've been thinking I can improve the design anyway." Says the first voice calmly.

"What's happening?" Rin whispers to her.

Pulsar loses focus on the conversation to reply, "Sounds like Zap destroyed his doggie door on the way out and Alex's uh…dads are talking about it."

"Two dad? That's going to be a lot of Dad Energy around here."

"Is that…an unusual number of dads?"

"Uhm…it's not common yet. Important question what kind of parents did you have?"

"I'd really rather not talk about it just yet. It's not…long enough ago yet."

"Ok."

"Alright, they're on their way." Alex announces, hanging up. "It's like a half hour drive across the city though."

"Cool, you can meet my dad while we wait." Rin says brightly.

Howard turns out to be working on something in the yard. He's already planted a wide variety of prairie grasses and flowers, which is to say he spread huge bags of them around and they rapidly spouted, covering the yard in green and riotous colors. Now he seems to be building wooden boxes, except the tops and bottoms are missing. Howard is a big man, balding and clean shaven, with a friendly, and slightly pudgy round face. Pulsar recently learned he was a boxing heavyweight in college, and has apparently been recently getting back into working out to stop Rin hassling him about it.

"Raised beds!" He explains, "Gonna start a garden. So, Alex Paris, aka Blue Shift. I like the name. How'd you meet Pulsar?"

"Mugger patrol in the outer northeast quarter." Pulsar answers. "I didn't spot a gun in time and he snatched it out of the guy's hand faster than a blink. In fact, now that I think about it, you had to be moving faster than a bullet and there was _no_ sonic boom."

"I don't seem to displace much air." Alex explains.

"Actually, you barely displace any air at _all_ and it's _really weird_." Rin adds. "It's extremely perplexing."

Zap, meanwhile, has charmed Howard, who is now fawning over him at least as much as Rin was.

"Meanwhile I have to be careful of my speed in the city or I'll be shattering windows every time I'm in a bit of a hurry." Pulsar complains. "I'm a little bit jealous, I don't mind saying."

Alex smiles a little at this, "Well maybe I can teach you, you know, once Rin figures why it works." He looks shocked suddenly, "Rin, I mean, I'm sorry. I hope that wasn't too familiar."

Rin smiles. "Rin is just fine, thanks for asking." She takes his hand and gives it a squeeze. "We going to be friends and friends get to call me Rin."

Pulsar smirks a little at that. She's doing the same thing she did to Pulsar when they'd first met, the declaration of friendship, the familiar touch. Alex doesn't know what's coming but Pulsar does. Hmm…she does know what's coming…shouldn't that bother her? Why does she just feel…warm and satisfied instead? She's seen romance in movies, this kind of thing usually precipitates some jealous stupidity.

Then Rin takes her hand and smiles up at her from her chair, and her confusion evaporates. Hadn't she decided to reject "normal" a long time ago? Hadn't she fought to escape one normal, only to find she didn't like the normalcy outside of it any better? Fuck normal. This is better.

When she comes back to reality, Howard is explaining his plans for a series of raised bed gardens, a greenhouse, and how he's going to learn to grow peppers.

"Dad, how are you going to find time to do all this? You have to work?" Rin asks bemusedly.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. I'm retiring!"

"What?!"

"It's your mother's own fault for insisting on an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement and asset escrow _in_ Xanadu. The judge rejected her appeal without even taking it to court. Xanadu may be a hyper-capitalist jungle of a city, but the law is clear and socially progressive. It's supposed to be a boost for immigration. Anyway, the assets are split and I'm set to retire." Howard grins like he's just pulled off a heist. "Even after all the lawyer fees, we're quite a bit more than all right."

"Uh…congratulations?" Alex says uncertainly.

Rin laughs. "Trust me, it's fine. My mother turned out to be horrible when I came out as trans and it's been a nasty process ever since."

"Oh you're…that's so cool because…so am I." Alex says shyly.

"So am I." Pulsar adds. "Since we're all sharing."

"This is…this is really cool!" Alex says a little more excitedly, "Do you guys mind if I tell my dads?"

"Not at all."  
"That's fine."

Just then a car horn honks from the scrapyard entrance. Alex almost immediately zips off with a hasty. "That's them!" Meanwhile, Zap has stopped showing off for Howard and is sitting, looking up at Pulsar.

"Oh, is it my turn?" She asks the super-powered canine and she kneels down before him. "You know usually dogs make me nervous." She says as she reaches out and scratches behind his ears. "Why don't you make me nervous, hmm?" Zap leans into her hand as she pets him. "Maybe it's because Alex already put me at ease? Or are you being extra polite because you sensed my fear or something?" Zap's response is to lick her hand and then run away towards Alex and his parents as they enter the little compound.

Introductions are rather boisterous due to Howard's enthusiasm mixing with the gregarious nature of Alex's dad, who he calls Dad. Kaspar Paris turns out to be a rather broad man who wrestled heavyweight in college and is of a size with Howard. He's a brown skinned man, with dark brown eyes and long, lustrous, black hair in braids and thick black beard. He immediately greets everyone with a bone-cracking embrace, even Rin stands up for one of these. Pulsar finds it's a supremely comfortable experience. The man is apparently filled with totally unrestrained affection for everyone it's hard not to feel uplifted by his hugs. Especially when he tends to actually heft his target off the ground. Kaspar apparently favors jeans and brightly colored button-down shirts.

Lucius Paris is the darkest and also the largest man Pulsar's ever met. He's even darker than she is. He's also a full two meters tall, and perhaps a little more. He turns out to be a former Rugby champion, which explains the mass of his build, which is only apparently slightly going soft as he greys in his razor neat hair and perfectly trimmed beard. He's much less casually dressed than his husband, in a three-piece suit of varying shades of violet, with a real gold watch on gold chain. His only concession to the summer heat is carrying his jacket rather than wearing it. He shakes hands, though his smile is warm and friendly on what must be a normally fairly serious face. Pulsar isn't sure how, but the way he looks her in the eye, the grip of his hand, she feels like an equal, not a child looking at an adult. It might help that she's gained two inches in the past two months and she's taller than Howard now. But it seems to be mostly his attitude.

It's a contrast to Howard, who has a difficult time not seeing his daughter and her girlfriend as young girls, instead of fresh adults. Never stingy with affection or support, always ready with advice or a bit of fatherly wisdom without being pushy, he just can't lose one little emotional block. Pulsar doesn't mind too much. Rin would prefer he get over it.

The little gathering is immediately comfortable. Howard, of course offers dinner, and soon they're waiting on burgers, at Kaspar's request. Kaspar is also assisting, while all three fathers talk in the kitchen and the "kids" wait outside in the shade of a lean-to Howard built. Zap, for his part, after exploring the entire scrapyard in about a minute, seems content to lay at Alex's feet. For a little while they discuss team names, ideas about tactics, Pulsar talks training ideas for a bit. Eventually the conversation moves to the three dads in the house next to them.

"Alex, you have too much dad. That's four dads in two." Rin teases.

Alex smiles, "Your dad's not exactly small, Rin."

"And now there's three of them." She replies. "It's a dad singularity in there."

"Dadularity." Pulsar agrees.

"Rin, does your dad know you're going to be…going out with us?" Alex asks cautiously.

Rin sighs, "Yes, and he's not happy about it."

"Was that the argument I overheard a couple nights ago?" Pulsar asks. "You didn't want to talk about it."

"Yes again. He's being stupid about it. I'm not going to spend my time staying back while I worry about my girlfriend risking her life protecting people. I wanna be out there next to her." She takes Pulsar's hand and squeezes.

"Yeah, but he doesn't get to do that." Alex points out. "He's just gotta wait and worry. When I told my parents what I wanted to do…we talked about it for a long time. They're supportive, but that doesn't mean they're not going to be a scared too. I think your dad feels the same way."

"Well…I think I do understand. But I don't do that to Pulsar!"

"Hmm…then explain that kiss I get before I leave for patrol. Or the hour we spend together when I get up every morning?" Pulsar asks with a smirk.

Rin blushes, "That's…it's different."

"Expressing affection and worry can be different for different people and relationships." Pulsar points out. This is new, she gets to be the wise one today. Maybe it's Alex's influence. He has a calm presence. "And he's been doing it to me a bit too. I keep finding these really great sandwiches on my table when get home every night. Let your father pamper you, just a little bit, you might even like it."

"He's done that plenty ever since he and mother separated." She sighs, "But…I suppose it's not that bad. He does try to give me my space. Even if he does tend to hover around just at the edge of it."

"Pop…uh that's Lucius, he keeps waiting up at night for me. Dad and I are going to convince him to go to bed early and just get up when I get home." Alex explains. "And Dad…well let's just say he's been trying to feed me a lot more than I actually need, even with my new crazy high metabolism."

"I guess dads are just gonna…be dads." Rin says with a shrug.

"I don't mind it too much." Pulsar says quietly. "I've…never really had that. I wouldn't mind more."

"Maybe you can absorb a little of that excess fatherly affection and worry for us who're used to it already." Alex says with a wry smile.

"It'll be a heavy burden, but I'm ready to sacrifice for the team." Pulsar says, smiling back at him.

"Meat's on!" Shouts Howard from the front door.

Inside, Howard and Kaspar have assembled a serious spread of BBQ staples, a true All-American kind of assemblage of burgers, bratwurst, every condiment and burger topping, chips, and then some.

"We've been talking." Lucius says as they start eating. "Kaspar and I think it'd be a good idea to move out here."

"Pop, we _just_ moved in, though." Alex says, "You haven't even paid off the house."

"It's hardly an issue and we won't do it in a hurry. Your Dad wants to design and build it mostly himself. But it's also the most logical thing to do, for everyone's safety. And to support you kids besides." Lucius explains calmly. "If you're going to operate as a team, you shouldn't be concerned with keeping multiple locations secure."

"Also, from what Howard tells us, Mr. Blaskowitz has built a number of terrifyingly efficient defensive systems into his scrapyard." Kaspar adds.

"Ohhh~ yeah…" Pulsar remembers the defensive systems. Billie does not like uninvited guests. "Those poor birds. I'm glad he worked the bugs out quickly."

"Wait, what happened to the birds?" Alex asks around a mouthful of burger.

"Oh…nothing good." Pulsar tries to evade. "But I agree with Mr. Paris. Flamestrike always said if I ever joined a team, make sure to consolidate our defenses. Spread out lairs and bolt-holes are a liability."

"Oh, just Lucius is fine. Or Pop if you like." Lucius says with a gentle smile. "But that's right. The three of us have no wish to allow some nemesis easy access to us all at once."

"And because Howard and I are retired, we will work on projects together!" Kaspar enthuses. "We can't be leaving the poor man here alone while everyone else is out battling costumed maniacs."

"I think your Dad's excited to have a shop buddy as well." Lucius adds.

Howard and Kaspar exchange a high-five.

"I mean, we can hardly object, right?" Rin says, "I mean, Bllie's great but he got really limited social energy. I've kinda been worried about Dad being lonely out here."

Howard looks like he's about to tear up as she pulls up a chair next to his daughter and gives her a one-armed hug. "Sweetie you don't need to worry about me. I'm supposed to do that for you."

"I'm allowed." H Rin insists, then softer says, "And I don't _really_ mind if you worry about me. Just so long as it's not…" She waves her hands vaguely. "…too overboard."

"I adjusted to ALS, I can adjust to this. I promise."

"Seems it's all settled then." Lucius says with a nod. "Though I'd like to meet Mr. Blaskowitz."

"If he feels up to it, he'll probably greet you as you leave." Pulsar explains, "Just know he's fairly touch-averse and very non-verbal."

"I texted him to let him know you were coming. So, he knows. It's just a question of how he's feeling." Rin adds. "But he'll meet you two eventually."

"Ahh, well I look forward to it." Lucius says with a nod.

Much of the remaining dinner conversation involves Howard and Kaspar talking about hand-carved lumber construction while Rin speculates on Alex's rate of food assimilation after his fifth burger and fourth hotdog. She's distracted from this when Lucius asks to see Pulsar's powers in action and they start talking particle physics together. Zap joins them, resing his head in Rin's lap, staring at her adoringly. The only two without much to add to the conversations, Alex and Pulsar move outside, and up onto the wall of the little compound, watching the sun set.

"Oof…I may have actually over-eaten a little bit." Alex says as they settle into chairs Howard must have set up.

"You should tell Rin, she wants to calculate your metabolic rate." Pulsar teases gently. "Say, does Zap have to eat that much?"

Alex shakes his head, "I think we're connected somehow. I might be eating extra for him." He sighs, "I never really thought about it until just now, this has all been…such a wild day." He looks out to the west pensively, "I mean, a team? I just started looking for muggers and we're probably going to go after lots bigger criminals."

"We can still harass muggers." Pulsar says with a smile. "Oh! Maybe burglaries too! Imagine just, catching a burglar fresh out of a house, and suddenly the sack's empty, everything back in place before they can blink."

Alex laughs. Pulsar thinks it's a very beautiful laugh that lights up his face in a way she likes. "It'd be almost mean! They'd be so confused!" He says, "Do people even rob houses like that for real? It seems like a movies thing."

"No clue, I wanna find out." Pulsar admits.

"I'm really glad we met last night." Alex says, leaning back in his chair. "This all feels…right, you know?"

"I feel the same way." She takes his hand and gives it a squeeze, which he returns, they hold that for a moment before they both let go.

"Hey so, I'm basically watching the origin of Xenomech here, but you've been out there for a while. How'd you get into this?" Alex asks.

"Well, it's not too different from your story. But…" Pulsar begins telling her story. All of it things she's told Rin as while they were getting to know each other, including the shooting that ended with a boost in her powers. This time, though, she's able to tell it all more coherently, and add just a bit of flare in the form of commentary. Alex listens, raptly, and she can't help the faint flush in her cheeks at being the only focus of his attention for so long.

That night, when the food is all put away and goodbyes have been made, she slips into bed with Rin, holding her close.

"I like him." Rin says softly.

"Me too." Pulsar agrees.

"I watched you two talking up on the wall. I wasn't sure what I expected but it was nice to see. I liked it." Rin admits.

"When…you took his hand like that, and smiled at him the way you smiled at me the night we met…it felt good." Pulsar replies, "Is that weird? Are we weird? It seems weird for it to feel so right."

"Maybe, but we're pretty weird. Let's embrace it."

"I wanna embrace _him_." Pulsar says.

"Oh gods…me too." Rin agrees. "Damn, what should we do?"

"I don't know if we should move too fast. I mean, he's gotta get to know us a little better, right? And then, understand we both want him and everything."

"I know what to do. Lets…invite him to stay here, you know, while we finish the suits and train and things. He can use your bed or a hammock or something, and then we'll both…ease him into it."

"Do you suppose he's noticed already?" Pulsar wonders.

"I hope he has. It might mean he understands already, and doesn't mind."

"Gods, I hope so." Pulsar bites her lip, "You know, talking about this…makes me want _you_. Right now."

Rin grins in the darkness, "Then take me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Flamestrike arrives. They don't take him to see the new compound, or the new labs, or even introduce him to Rin. Pulsar wears a purple hoodie and purple domino mask he gave her, while Blue Shift wears the all blue outfit he first came to the scrapyard in, with the cloth mask. They decide it's better he not know anything about the true extent of Wrecker's hobbies, or the access he's granted them. Alex had intended him to meet Zap, but the hyper-fast dog seems intent on following Rin around everywhere.

"He won't take us seriously unless we confront him with serious action." Pulsar explains that morning. "That's why we're going to take on this Menace. But for now, all we need from Flamestrike is that recommendation letter. Once we're ready, and he sees what we can do, he won't interfere. But we're not ready yet, so he'll try to butt in."

"But he's one of the biggest heroes in the city." Alex points out, "Shouldn't we listen to him?"

"Trust me, he's got his blind spots, and one of them, is queer kids who think for themselves."

"Ah…"

So, the two of them are waiting at the entrance when Flamestrike arrives. He brings with him someone Pulsar's never seen before. Not in person. He's shown up in a few online pictures captioned as "Shadow Blade". He looks a few years younger than her, wearing some kind of light armor with a light chest plate, bracers and greaves, and pauldrons, all in gleaming black. He doesn't seem to have a sword, but he never has on in the pictures either.

"Blue Shift huh?" Flamestrike looks at him appraisingly after Pulsar makes the introductions and explains what they need. "Speedster? How fast are you?"

"About this fast." Blue Shift snaps his fingers, there's a little breeze and suddenly Shadow Blade laughs.

"What? What'd he do?" Flamestrike asks in mild alarm. And when Shadow Blade pulls the "Kick Me" sign off his back he looks a little bit perturbed. "Har har, cute. But ok, that's damn fast. So, college huh? Gotta say Pulsar, didn't expect this from you. I thought you'd be tearin' ass up and down the town after the biggest baddest fights you could find. I'm actually glad to see that's not the case. You took my advice for once."

Pulsar doesn't counter that she's taken all his advice from the beginning, but he only ever remembers the times she's 'disobeyed' him.

"I don't like feeling ignorant. And if we're going to go after bigger, meaner, smarter villains, we can't afford to be ignorant." Pulsar explains, "I do listen to your lectures sometimes."

"Well at least the really important stuff got through. Gimme a sec." Flamestrike walks back to his truck, pulls out two sheets of paper, writes something on them, signs both with a flourish, and returns. "There ya go."

"You keep these in your truck?" Pulsar asks, looking over the letter. "With blanks for the hero name?"

Flamestrike shrugs. "Hardly anyone gets paid to be a vigilante. I'm technically employed by the police and we've got a sponsorship thing, but that's not normal. I figure the least the city can do is offer its protectors and education in exchange for their protection. So yeah, if someone asks, I've always got some letters ready."

There's an indistinct voice on the truck's CB radio.

"You kids hang here for a sec while I see what's up." Flamestrike jogs back to his truck.

The three teen super heroes stand there, sizing each other up.

"Shadow Blade, huh?" Blue Shift asks, "Where's that come from?"

Shadow Blade holds out a hand and a four foot, slightly curve, slime, single edged blade appears in his hand in a burst of black fire.

"It's kinda literal." He admits. "But I figure, why over complicate things? What's with Blue Shift anyway?"

"It's a physics thing. Has to do with light speed." Alex explains.

"So, like, when you run fast at things, the light coming from you is blue shifted relative to their position?"

"Yeah, exactly." Alex admits, a little surprised.

"Well, I watch Star Trek." Shadow Blade says as if he thinks it's both no big deal, and a serious bragging right, while vanishing his sword in a blaze of black flame. "So, a pulsar's like, a collapsed star, right?"

Pulsar nods, "Like a neutron star, except it tends to spin fast, and fire off particles at near light speed."

"Can you move at light speed?"

"No, but I can do this." Pulsar walks over to a hunk of metal scrap the size of a plate, flings it into the air, then fires a finger thin blast at it, maximum heat and force, hitting the plate with a loud _TONG_ before it falls to earth with a glowing hole in the center.

"Oh sick!" Shadow Blade exclaims.

"Looks like your aim's improved." Flamestrike comments as he returns, and turns to Shadow Blade. "Hey bud, hop in the truck, we got a thing."

"See you on the street!" Pulsar calls after him as Shadow Blade hurries off.

Then Flamestrike turns back to Blue Shift and Pulsar. "I'm glad you guys are taking the responsible route, especially teaming up. Just remember if you ever need help training, or run into something over your head, call me. I'll come, no matter what."

Pulsar nods, "I know. And you can call me."

"Yeah, I know. Just be careful. City's been too quiet lately. Something's up and I don't like the feel of it." And with that he jogs back to his truck and leaves in a cloud of dust.

"What's that mean?" Alex asks as they walk back towards the compound.

"Something's _always_ up in Flamestrike's head." Pulsar says with a roll of her eyes. "But that's just because something always up in Xanadu."

Alex nods, "I mean, yeah, I've lived here most of my life so I know that. But he's been out there for years, maybe he's just got a sixth sense for it by now."

Pulsar shrugs. "Maybe, I just wish he'd offer a little more than, **_sumthin's brewin' in this dirty old town._** " She mimics Flamestrike's signature growl, which gets a laugh from Alex.

Once down in the complex, the all three assemble in what appears to be partly finished command post. Rin places a chair next to her wheelchair, and Zap hops up onto it, as it he's fully a part of the meeting.

"Why do we need a command post?" Alex asks, "Aren't we usually going to be out together?"

"Billie seems to think we need one. And he's having a good time so why object?" Rin says, "Plus, it's a cool place for team meetings."

"Hmm… maybe we should stock a fridge down here." He suggests.

"I'll add it to the list. But for now, let's listen to Pulsar."

Pulsar's pulse jumps a little as they both turn their eyes towards her. _Ok, you let them elect you as leader. Lead._

"Ok uhm…some background. So far, five banks have been hit with the same pattern, there's an obvious robbery, the robbers let the police notice them, there's an explosion that generates an EMP damages the computers of the bank, and the robbers escape with cash. The thing is, it's pointless."

"Well, they get the cash." Blue Shift points out. "Not totally pointless."

"That cash is insured." Xenomech counters, "And, tell me if I'm wrong here, the amount of cash on hand even in the big banks isn't enough to do much with. Assuming this is some plot by a super villain. Right?"

"Exactly." Pulsar agrees, "If you're just robbing a bank for yourself, sure, a few million is good. But they robberies are so consistent. They _wait_ for the police to notice them. And they always happen when the bank's main vault is open. Sorry, that's another important point. They have inside information somehow. The banks are supposed to do that on random days to give access to clients with high security safe deposit boxes."

"So how do you know all this?" Xenomech asks.

"Flamestrike's kind of an ass but I guess I listen better while I'm training, so he used to go on long lectures about stuff like this while I was running obstacle courses. Anyway, here's the thing, I went back to two of the banks afterwards, and I noticed something. The same computer repair company serviced both of them. There was another robbery last week and I made it there two days later, they were still working on the place so I was lucky, again, same repair company. I looked them up and they only do work for big companies too. And the last big detail is, Possum Girl has been involved in each of these, setting the EMP explosives, using something called ElectroPlastique. It's a chemical EMP explosive. And Possum Girl was working for someone called Menace. The woman who shot me was working for him too, Possum Girl told me that yesterday at her scrapyard."

"It's really hers?" Xenomech asks.

"I didn't feel like arguing with her over a dead wasteland. Scrapyard Five belongs to Possum Girl as far as we're concerned."

"Fair enough. But a chemical EMP, that's interesting, you'd need some serious chemical engineering skills to make that stuff." Xenomech muses, "And I happen to know it's banned internationally."

"So, they either have to make it, or get it on the black market." Blue Shift adds, "Right? And that means Super Villain."

"Exactly." Says Pulsar. "First, we need to confirm this. Next time there's a robbery, we should stake it out the next day. Nobody's been hurt at these things, and supposedly according to Possum Girl again, Menace doesn't like killing. Once we're sure it's uh…hold on I wrote this down…" She pulls out a battered note pad and flips through it. "Right, Occam's Computer Repair Service, these guys. Once we're sure it's them, we should look into them. Maybe we can get their customer list, see if they're involved in anything shady. Flamestrike might be some help in this but I'd prefer not to involve him just yet if we can manage. He's gotta see we're capable on our own or he won't ask for _our_ help. If he doesn't respect you, he won't pay attention. I had to clock him hard with an energy blast before he really put the effort into getting my pronouns right."

"Once he gets set right, he sticks to it, huh?" Xenomech asks.

"Pretty much."

"We should also be ready to respond to one of these robberies ourselves. Show people and Flamestrike that we're active, though maybe we're not on the lookout for them, just happened to be nearby." Blue Shift suggests. "If we could get on the police scanner frequencies, monitor from say, this command post? One of us could be on duty down here while the others are out in the city."

"I have several detachable modules in my suit, I could link my comm to the systems here and monitor the whole city from my lab or wherever. Then I can direct you two." Zap barks and licks her ear, demanding attention. "Yes, I agree Zap." She continues, scratching his ear. "We should keep the existence of Xenomech a secret, since the existence of a speedster in the city is already out there. That way, when we're ready for our first real confrontation, I'll be a surprise."

Pulsar nods, "That's good thinking. And uh…since the suits for Blue Shift and I won't be done until tomorrow, lets avoid problems and not go out tonight."

"Agreed." Xenomech and Blue Shift say simultaneously.

There's silence in the room for a while, backed by the hum of machinery in the background.

"Uhm…wow that was kinda…intense?" Pulsar says finally.

"Yeah uh, it felt really serious there." Alex agrees.

"I got chills." Rin adds.

"So…what should we do for the rest of the day?" Pulsar asks, "I've…pretty much got nothing else."

"We need a team name." Alex says, "But…I'm drawing a blank."

"Me too." Pulsar agrees.

"In that case, I say we watch anime at Pulsar's house for the rest of the day." Rin suggests. "All in favor?"

Anime, snacks and pizza at Pulsar's house for the rest of the day turns out to be a unanimous motion, to the mild but amused disapproval of Howard when he finds out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It turns out to be pretty easy to convince Alex to stay at the scrapyard, his dads also like the idea when he tells them about it. The next day, while Rin is putting some final touches on the suits, Pulsar and Blue Shift register at Xanadu PolyTechnical University. Pulsar finds herself sitting at the end of a desk belonging to a friendly, but slightly harried, degree counselor. She's medium height, soft-looking, white, and blonde. Though Pulsar can't deny she moves with a certain physicality. Pulsar is wearing her "street" supersuit. A newly modified hoodie and jeans, similar to her last one, though she's found that with how she's suddenly begun to fill out her clothes, she doesn't need the "curve enhancements" of the last one. She's even had to get all new underwear. Even now, things that just a month ago fit fine, are just a touch small on her, a little extra snug. And not just curves, she's apparently put on muscle as well. She looks like a hardcore gym rat with curves, and apparently Rin finds this comparison, stated out loud, incredibly amusing.

"Ok." Says the counselor finally, her name according to the desk plaque is "Charlotte Tilton". She says "Ok" like "Hohkey, drawing out her o's and u's, leaning sharp on e's, i's, and a's. "Lets see. Name?"

"Pulsar."

She gasps, "For real? Oh, this is excitin'! Can…can you do the thing for me dearie?"

"Uh…sure?" Pulsar holds her hand palm up while making silver and gold energy swirl around above her palm.

"Ohhh~! That's sure is neat! I was hopin' it was you soon as I saw ya at the reception desk! Hope I'm not surprsin' ya too bad, I like ta collect articles on new supers in this town. On account'a my own past." She holds out her hand and a perfect sphere of ice forms out of mist and thin air. "Used ta call me The Snow Plow back in the dear old Twin Cities, I'm a Saint Paul girl myself, but I covered the whole metropolitan area."

"They made a movie about your guys!" Pulsar exclaims, "You look a lot different.:

"Oh! Kids still like that old thing? They didn't want ta cast a lady my size fer the role. Can'ya believe it? Here, give that arm a punch." She leans over to Pulsar and flexes her arm, bulging the sleeve of her jacket and making it creak alarmingly.

Uncertainly, Pulsar gives the arm a punch she's pretty sure would badly bruise a normal human. There's a solid _kunk_ and it's like punching steel. Charlotte grins.

"Jus' like steel! I haven't lost a step, just the will. Anyway, we couldn't talk 'em outta the casting, I never held it against that nice girl, she acted her little butt off representin' me and got it right. Real good for her first big job too."

"But what made you quit?"

"Well, weren't nothing sad or tragic, fortunately. Oh, we had some close calls sure, but nobody died. Truth is, I just never liked the fighting, the violence. I asked the team to find someone to fill my role in the fighting. Once she was all trained up and on good terms with the team, I retired. Been movin' around to jobs and living off the movie royalties ever since. Mostly things to do with helping supers. When I heard about this job, I applied. I never went to college. Managed an education of sorts since, but it woulda done me a world of good if I'd gone to school, I always thought. So here I am. So, what're ya thinkin' o studying?"

"Well…it might be odd but, I wanna study medicine."

"Oh? You man first responder courses?"

"No like, proper medicine, to be a doctor. But I should know first responder, EMT kind of things too. Maybe I should start with that? See. I have…it's some kind of healing ability. I can heal myself or someone else. It's pretty powerful and I'm scared if I do it wrong somehow, I could seriously damage someone. I want to know what I'm doing and not rely just on instinct."

Charlotte nods gravely, blonde curls swaying. "That is some smart thinking. Real smart. Ok, I take it you want to defend the city while going to school?"

"Yes."

"Though so. Well it'll be tough, but you've got me on your side. You came in with that boy in blue?"

Pulsar nods. "He's my teammate."

"I'll be handlin' both of ya. It's my whole job here, advising super-kids. Smart, teaming up, too. So, here's what we'll do for ya. First-Aid training, and more advanced classes as you pass them. These are flexible, lots of class times, just show up for the next module as you can. At the same time, general education, math, bit of literature and history, that stuff. We use a block schedule system, so you go to school three hours a day, one class at a time, fifteen class days each. And you can test out of any of them to get 'em over with faster. Though personally, I recommend going to classes. Just my advice, but I think it'd be good for you."

"Well, my mentor does say I need to be attuned to the people. So, I think I will."

As they talk, Charlotte has been making entries into the computer, and rapidly typing without even looking at the screen.

"All…right…" She takes a piece of paper off the printer. "Here's your classes for the fall semester and the list of first aid module times. There's also a username and temporary password for your school e-mail account. Make sure you check it even if it's only when you're on campus, also your student ID number and make sure to stop by the ID desk on your way out and get your student ID card. Any questions?"

"Uh…I can never think of those on the spot. Can I get back to you?"

Charlotte smiles. "No problem." The both stand and Charlotte shakes her head. "Goodness you are a tall one. Well, take care."

"Thanks Miss-"

"Ahpapap! Charlotte." Charlotte corrects.

"Thanks Charlotte."

As she leaves the office, Blue Shift and Zap enter. The door closes over the excited exclamations of Charlotte, formerly The Snow Plow of St. Paul, over how adorable and wonderful Zap is. Once Blue Shift is done and they both have their ID cards, they hurry back to the scrapyard and Rin. Leaving Zap with Howard, they make their way down to the complex.

"We met Snow Plow." Alex brags when they return.

"What? Like from the movie?" Rin exclaims.

Pulsar nods, grinning.

"Maybe I should go back to college." Rin muses.

"Stop. Can we focus instead? You said you were ready." Pulsar insists. "C'mon, this is exciting, let's go!"

Rin leads them to a small locker room. There are eight lockers but only three have names. The lockers have short privacy walls between them, with a curtain to obscure them from the rest of the room. But the walls are only as tall as Rin's shoulders standing up. Which is somewhat below the level of Pulsar's shoulders.

"Why so many?" Alex asks.

"We might grow the team. Who knows?" Rin explains. "I'm not always clear on Billie's thinking when he makes this stuff. He builds anything I ask for, but always kinda the way he wants to. And…I'm not sure he sleeps. Or even needs to sleep."

"It's always been kind of an open question." Pulsar admits.

"Hmm…" Rin pauses and thinks for a moment, "Well, anyway, the suits had to be made in two parts. I'm hoping to redesign them eventually but we're at beta and alpha stages of development here. Beta for Pulsar, because we already had a starting point for understanding her powers and what she can do with them. Alpha for Blue Shift because I don't fully understand this…speed energy? Kinetic particles? Whatever I'll figure out a name. Anyway, they're a mystery for now, more of a mystery I mean. Pulsar's power is still pretty mysterious. Point is, for now his design is similar to the Pulsar suit but without the extra features to enhance what she already knows how to do, and guide what we think she might be capable of. The Blue Shift suit has a lot of energy channels all over, but only general-purpose emitters to enhance your control, if you have any at all. At the very least, it'll eliminate drag and friction. But, in order to wear the suits, you gotta wear the liner." She opens Pulsar's locker. Inside is something that looks like a latex catsuit. "It's made it for wearing inside my armor, and it turned out to be perfect for wearing inside your suits. Makes it easier for me to design new ones without having to re-fit them to you all the time. So, strip and get dressed!"

She gets out of her chair, moves to the bench in front of her locker, sits down and starts undressing.

"Rin!" Pulsar hisses, and points to Alex who has spun around and turned a really attractive shade of deep red.

At least she blushes as she exclaims "Oh! Sorry!" And hurriedly draws the curtain on herself.

Pulsar, meanwhile, glances at Alex and turns her back to him, as she undresses. “These uh...walls could be a little higher.”

“The bad news is these things won’t be leaving much to the imagination.” Rin announces from behind her curtain.

“Are...you sure? Mine seems kinda...baggy.” Alex says, struggling with his suit.

“There’s a control on the collar.” Rin says, “Just push the little button.”

“I can’t find it.”

“Let me look.” Pulsar comes out of her little space and into Alex’s, her own suit baggy around her. “Here it is.” She finds the button with loose-gloved hands and presses it. There’s a quiet _shupt_ noise and Alex gasps as the suit suddenly becomes skin tight. “Oh...she’s not kidding.” Pulsar says as she steps back a little.

Alex looks like he’s had latex painted on him. Rather than smoothing his form, it clings to every detail of his lean, toned form, leaving nothing at all but one particular area to the imagination. The rest is painted in gleaming black, every curve and crease highlighted by the latex reflection.

As she’s staring, Pulsar manages to find her own control button and press it. _Shupt._ She feels it suddenly suck down onto her skin and she gasps. It really clings to almost everything, it actually supports her comfortably where it ought to, even as it clings to every little detail in a highly embarrassing fashion. She knows what she looks like, from her ongoing study of the effect on Alex. She’s grown in the past couple months. She’s tall and muscular, more muscular than Alex, with highly defined musculature that’s starting to give her an imposing, Amazonian figure. Her wavy, gleaming white hair, now almost down to her shoulders, contrasts with the black of the skinsuit. Her curves are coming in fast too, as if making up for lost time, not that she minds. Rin doesn’t seem to mind. And from his slightly stunned stare, neither does Alex.

“Told you so.” Says Rin.

Alex’s eyes snap away from her as Pulsar turns, and now they both stare at Rin. She’s standing, blushing under their combined stares, just outside her changing space. Pulsar’s seen her naked many times and still finds she doesn’t get tired of it. And this is about as close as it gets. Rin is shorter than both of them, lithe and fit, though not quite with the defined hardbody Pulsar and Alex display. Her legs still look strong, through Pulsar knows she can’t get full strength out of them. Which makes her standing there a surprise, until she notices an important difference. Rin’s suit seems to have structure integrated into the legs. The shape of a belt, with odd bundles of cables run down her legs to something like a knee brace and a slim, stiff boot.

“It’s a uh...superconducting polymer. And mine has a prosthetic built in. I made one for regular walking around too. It only looks like latex. I don’t have a latex fetish.” She bites her lip, “Might start though.”

“Wh-....you-....” Pulsar stammers, “ _You’re_ a latex fetish.” Her face and ears feel hot enough to melt her new skinsuit. Rin’s body outlines in gleaming polished black looks incredible. Even with the prosthetic. Maybe especially with it.

Rin giggles. “I love the way you look too.” She says, and practically sashays away, hips swaying, towards what Pulsar remembers is the suit room, where the power suit and other suits are stored.

“Wow...she looks...” Alex starts.

“Yeah.” Pulsar agrees. “We should-“

“Right.”

They follow her, hurrying to catch up.

“The material is reasonably close to frictionless on the outside,” Rin explains as they walk, “But only when in contact with the material coating the inside of the suits, and only after you first push your powers through the suit. So, you can sit down, walk around, and grab things without becoming an out of control human hockey puck. Until you use your power, it’s got a little bit of friction to it, but nothing more than like, putting on a tight shirt or something.”

“So, we can dress conveniently, and there won’t be any friction moving inside the suit.” Alex guesses.

“Exactly.” Rin confirms, “Once we have a final design in place, you won’t have to strip naked to get the suit on or wear the skinsuits. Just, regular underwear is fine. And I’ll design ones you can wear under your clothes. But we still need to get these properly developed, so this is temporary. At least for you two, I’ll always need mine.”

The two suits are hanging on some kind of racks, held open and ready to be stepped into. The front of Rin’s alien powersuit is open as it sits seated on a bench next to the other suits.

Rin continues. “The suits are self-zipping and un-zipping. There’s a little button inside the collar, on the opposite side of where the control for the skinsuit is. It’s purely mechanical, no power source. In fact, there are no power sources at all on your suits, since I’m not certain how they might interact with your powers. There’s just a pair of bone-induction headsets I’m testing, with each suit. They’re _supposed_ to piggyback on the city’s cellular towers, without being trackable. But I just finished them the day before yesterday and, well, I wanted to hang out instead of sticking to the lab testing them.”

Rin sits down in her powersuit without closing it. “Go ahead. I wanna see the zipper in action. I’ve only tested it on dummies.”

Pulsar steps into her suit first. Finding the button on her collar, she presses it. There’s a rapid series of clicks, and the suit snugs up around her body, a hood flips up and over her head, obscuring her face and hair. There’s a new domino mask next to her headset and she puts both on. The headset slips over her ears, and runs down to the back of her neck, supported by her ears and neck, and so lightweight she things she won’t even notice it after a while. There’s a new domino mask next to it and she slips it on. It must be the same kind of material as her skinsuit, because it conforms to her face even more perfectly than the one Flamestrike gave her.

She turns and looks at herself in the mirror.

“Oh shit, this looks cool.” She says in awe.

The main portion of the suit is a black body glove. Graceful lines of gold accentuate her curves. Over that, are boots with greaves that wrap around her calves. Plating over her thighs and hips further add to her figure. Further up, a cuirass protects her torso. Pauldrons conform to her arms and bracers protect her forearms and hands. All of the armor is layered plates of varying sizes, allowing her full range of motion. The armor is deep purple, outlined in gold, with subtle tracers of gold spirals worked all across each plate. Her hood hides her face in shadow, especially combined with the mask, giving only a hint of her normally amber eyes.

“Put a little power through it.” Rin suggests.

Pulsar’s eyes glow gold from the darkness of her hood, her white hair glows. She can feel the power flowing out from her, but now it’s changed. It flows more freely, she can sense it more clearly, it clings to her suit and her skin together. Suddenly she can move more easily, in a way that she didn’t realize she couldn’t at first. The gold of the suit lights up with her power, silver and gold energy flowing along the swirls and lines of what she had thought was merely gold colored fiber and paint. The effect give her and otherworldly air, a dangerous and beautiful appearance, something that could deliver vengeance and mercy in equal measure.

Her girlfriend is a gods-damned artist.

“Rin...this is incredible.” She almost whispers.

“Ohhh~ wow this feels different.” Alex says from behind her.

He’s slipped into his suit and pushed a little bit of his own energy through it. The channels on his suit look almost like computer circuits. There’s almost no armor to it except some flexible cover on his shoulders and arms, chest, thighs and shins. The suit is electric blue, the light armor, blue to pale it’s almost white. He has a helmet that’s connected to his suit’s material, it’s smooth and conforms to his skull and leaves his ears exposed. A mask is part of the helmet and fits him perfectly. The bone-induction headset must be integrated into it. The power channels are silver. His power seems to zip around his body, little arcs of bright blue lightning following the circuit paths in complex patterns.

“ _The...force or whatever we end up calling it, the power is just flowing around me I don’t need to keep it up. Feels like I can accelerate faster like this._ ” He stops. His voice sounds like a dozen voices of different pitches. Like a choir speaking in once voice. “ _Ohh...this is a cool effect._ ”

Rin grins and claps. “It worked! I made sort of an audio circuit into the collar so it would alter your voice. Another step to protecting your identity. Pulsar didn’t need one because she’s...well she only Pulsar, all the time.”

“Just the way I like it.” Pulsar agrees. “But that is also really really cool. You look amazing, Blue Shift.”

Blue Shift grins. “ _This is gonna dazzle people. I love it._ ”

"Ok," Says Rin, "My turn."

Her feet already set in the powersuit's legs, she touches a control near her waist. The suit begins to hum as she leads back and slides her arms into the suit. The helmet closes around her head, revealing its alien appearance. The head mechanical and utilitarian, but with four eye slots instead of two as a human might build. Besides the eyes, the rest of it is strangely proportioned, obviously unearthly in origin. Then metallic scales begin to seemingly flow out from the structure of the suit, covering Rin's body, each no larger than the size of Pulsar's palm, most are smaller. Then larger, thicker plates unfold from the structure, further armoring Rin. They reveal the rest of the suit's alien design. The plates overlap and move smoothly over each other as Rin tests her range of movement. In her suit, and hint of gender or humanity vanishes.

The suit's plates are gleaming black, and covered in uncountable concave impressions with sharp ridges, as if each had been knapped from a block of solid obsidian. The eyes glow, constantly shifting color throughout the rainbow. Each plan is limned in the same shifting light, a rainbow kaleidoscope of colors slowly sliding around each plate. It makes Xenomech a few inches taller, between the thick soled feet and the helmet. On her back, Xenomech has a large "pack" from which a dozen long blades emerge, six on each side. Arrayed along the blades are what seem to be slim, flat jets, and impression confirmed when Xenomech pushes off the ground slightly and they blaze to life, blue-white jets of flame shooting out almost a half meter as she hovers for a moment. They slowly turn down and then off, setting her on the floor gently, though now the wall behind her is badly scorched and partly melted. Rin's forearms now have to large, bulky "bracers" on them. Seemingly with a thought, Xenomech deploys long barrels from each of them, then retracts them. Other weapons deploy, cannons from each shoulder, two wing-blades become a long dangerous-looking sword, then resume their original form. When she turns around to inspect the damaged wall, Pulsar and Blu Shift can see what appears to be a pair of missile pods.

"Well?" She asks finally. Her voice emanating from the suit as she faces them, hands on her hips.

Pulsar smiles, "Badass."

Blue Shift nods in agreement, then seems concerned. "Are all those weapons lethal?"

"Ah! I specifically designed them to be dual mode. Even the missiles can switch from concussive to high explosive blasts. I can't alter the way my energy acts or anything like that, so I decided to build in versatility. Even that sword can be a kind of electrical stun-club if I want."

"Good. I gotta admit I'm not comfortable with the idea of anything uh…lethal."

Pulsar nods, "I tend to agree. But Xenomech is right to give herself the option. I can do it just by thinking. You'll probably discover your own ways, Blue Shift, given time. And it's pretty likely we'll encounter those who want to kill us, or simply can't even be slowed down by anything less than our maximum level of violence."

The three of them share a grave silence at that.

"But," Pulsar continues in a lighter tone, "Before we have to deal with that, we should put these suits through their paces. Xenomech, show us to the training grounds!"

The training ground is a large underground space with several bare-bones sections like a makeshift firing range, obstacle course, and several hulking pieces of equipment Pulsar doesn't immediately recognize.

She walks over to one machine, which looks like a huge steel block with a digital readout and a round plate in the center of one side covered in a thick pad.

"What's this do?"

"It measures your punch force."

"Oh, like the Dragonball Z tournament thing?"

"Yup, go ahead. Hit it as hard as you can, just plain strength, no holding back."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I designed it to be tough. It should be fine."

Pulsar shrugs, faces the machine, and sets her feet. She can feel her power flowing within her, over her skin, through the suit. She draws it into her, smooths it over the herself, then concentrates it. She draws back, and throws her punch as hard as she can.

" ** _HAH!"_**

She can almost see it all in slow motion. With all her weight and power behind it, her fist connects with the padded plate. The reinforced steel behind it deforms, the piston warps as it's overwhelmed, the structure folds inward like wet paper being sucked through a straw, it rips free of the floor and flies as if yanked by a rope pulled by a god into the far wall of the arena.

Stunned silence follows the last few plinks and rattles of settling wreckage.

"What. The. Fuck." Rin says. "I…don't know what I expected."

"Ooh~ that was stronger than the last time I went all out." Pulsar says with satisfaction. "By a lot. I should probably really thank Flamestrike for training me not to go all out as a habit."

"Uh…Rin…" Alex whispers, his normal voice returning when he speaks softly, "I'm a little bit frightened of her now. But also…"

Rin's helmet retracts, "But just a little bit turned on?" She asks with a smirk. "Don't worry, I am too."

"Is that weird?"

"I don't think it's weird." Pulsar announces. "Hey did you guys know I have super hearing now?" She turns and makes eye contact with Alex, giving him a wink. She thinks the shade of pink suddenly coloring his cheeks and ears looks great with the blue.

"Ok ok, enough teasing." Xenomech cuts in. "First, Pulsar, lets go over your suit's capabilities."

"I already feel more control, it's more precise. I could probably make a needle-thin beam of heat or force now, or both."

"That's just the beginning." Xenomech says, "Try focusing the energy into one of your bracers."

Pulsar looks at the heavy bracer. It already glows with energy, but as she sends more, she feels something begin to form. It feels like an instinct, the energy naturally tends to flow a certain way, the structure of the bracer uses that to do more. She lets the instinct out and there's an electric _crack_. A barrier of energy three feet in diameter snaps into being, the center focused on her forearm.

"Oh…cool…"

"Now," Xenomech continues, "Do it with both, and put your fists together."

Again, Pulsar can feel how the structure of the suit makes the energy flow. Guiding rather than controlling it. She does as instructed, and suddenly a dome forms. She stands on one side, projecting it, and it curves above and behind her. Looking down she can see is passing through the concrete below without cutting it.

Apparently noticing her look, Xenomech speaks up. "It shouldn't cut through the ground when you deploy it so you can move around. Also, it shouldn't block your own energy from passing through."

Pulsar moves around a bit to test. Then she switches to the shield and, finding a convenient target over at the firing range, takes aim and sends a blast towards it. The pulse shoots through the shield unimpeded. She can feel it pass through, seeming to become part of the shield before going on its way. The target is blasted apart.

"Nice." Pulsar says with a smile.

"That's the main feature. I figured you'd want to be able to shield others in a pinch. You should also have better control over that flying barrier you described, so you can carry someone without giving them wind burn while flying."

"Sounds like something that could come in handy later." Pulsar says with a smirk.

"They're versatile so you can figure out more functions as you practice. Plus these are still prototypes, the final version will be even better. Now, Blue Shift, how's it feel?"

Blue shift bounces on his toes lightly before suddenly zipping around the arena making random turns spirals, leaving long trail of arcing blue lightning.

"Feels good, no loss in traction too!"

"I had to invent a new materiel for the soles of your shoes. It's pretty similar to the skinsuits as far as heat dissipation goes, but much more durable."

"The soles are thinner than regular sneakers too." Blue shift adds, "I can feel the ground better, feels like it gives me more control."

"Excellent, I was hoping for that. You're lit up all the time now it looks like. Think you can do anything with it?"

He gives a few test jabs. The energy arcs out a little but doesn't seem to do much. For a moment, he concentrates, glows brighter for a second, then returns to normal.

"Hmm…maybe if I…"

He suddenly zips over to the row of target mannequins. He suddenly blazes brighter, energy arcing around him. Then, there's a burst of arcs that touch the mannequins one by one. For an instant, Pulsar can see him seem to be in two places, blazing bright at one end, dimmer but still bright at the other.

**_KRCTKRCTKRCTKRRAACT! TOOOOOOM~!_ **

Hundreds of lightning arc rip through the line of targets, blast holes in the concrete, spiderweb along the ground and the steel pillars and beam nearby and supporting the roof. All of it seems to lurch and get sucked into Blue Shift's body, hurling him backward and sending him skidding across the ground. Instantly Pulsar and Xenomech are flying towards him. But by the time they reach him, he's getting to his feet, shaking his head.

"Woah…" he mutters, standing. "Fuck. Ok, misjudged that. All I wanted to was like, a taser effect."

"Looks like you got Zeus's tasers." Xenomech comments.

"All of them at once." Pulsar adds. "Ok, uh, keep that move in reserve maybe? In case we have to fight like, a god?"

"Hah, yeah." Blue Shift looks pale as he stares at the damage, still smoking craters, almost disintegrated mannequins, and steel that looks like it's been attacked by a madman with a welder. "Guess I'll need to work on my control. I tried to set up a charge difference between two points. The suit seems to actually amplify the energy, so when I pushed the charge up, it went _way_ up."

"Ahh…ok, unexpected but not too surprising. Can you fine tune the amplification yourself? Otherwise I think I can disable a few circuits to reduce the effect."

"I think…" He begins to grow incrementally brighter and dimmer in turns. "Yeah, yeah I can feel how to do it. Sort of relative to what I just did. I just need to practice to gauge how much does what. Does that make sense?"

Pulsar nods. "You'll probably start figuring out how to do it out of the suit too. I think anyone who projects energy ends up with like, an extra sense, related to their power. Flamestrike always explained it that way, and that's how it feels to me."

Blue Shift nods. "Yeah…yeah that's exactly it! It feels almost like, breathing a little deeper or pushing on something a little harder."

Pulsar turns to Xenomech. "Ok Xenomech, lets see your stuff."

Xenomech laughs. "Ok, first, check this out." There's a faint click. " **Greetings, Humans of Earth. You may call me Xenomech. I am a Mercenary Law Paladin from the Andromeda Galaxy. These fine heroes saved my life and now I must repay my life debt! Do not be afraid! I am here to help.** "

Her voice reverberates in with discordant tones and clashing pitches, all on the border of painful.

There's a second click. "Yikes, ok, I should work on that."

"Uh…yes please?" Blue Shift says with a wince. "Cool cover, but ow, that was the sound of…just…"

"Bad." Pulsar finishes for him.

"Maybe I can use something like that as a weapon?" Xenomech muses. "No way to ethically test it of course. Ok, audio issues will be addressed. Weapons!"

She turns towards a stack of shipping containers. "Calling this a Force Beam." A barrel emerges from one of her gauntlets and fires a beam of brilliant blue energy. It strikes the topmost container with a tremendous _GONG_ and sends it spinning through the air to land in a twisted heap several hundred feet away. "I can set it to piercing or dispersing hits.

"Plasma Beam." She announces, and a ray of yellow energy slices a pair of containers in half, as well as leaving a line of melted concrete behind them. "Gotta check my targets with that one."

"I'm pretty sure this is a gravitic bomb launcher. With explosive and implosive modes and variable yield." First, a stack of containers is sent flying like bowling pins by a softball sized orb of crackling purple energy. Then they're yanked into a smashed pile by a similar orb of energy, this time bright red.

"Ionized Plasma Bomb. I can set it low enough to be just an EMP or wide area taser." The plasma setting melts most of a few containers, white fluid splashing everywhere and melting everything while electrifying everything around it. The taser setting looks like a burst of lightning going off.

"And of course, variable concussion or explosive missiles." There's a pair of popping sounds as two rockets are ejected form the pods on her back. Thy burst to life and fly towards two containers. One makes a concussive blast that doesn't do much, the other blasts a ragged hole in the steel.

"Finally, Club and Sword!" She shouts and leaps into the air, forming the long blade as she flies and slices a shipping container down the middle. The Sword transforms into a club and she swats half the container across the arena. Then she flies back to her teammates.

Pulsar smirks, "I take it you had some fun with this thing?"

Xenomech laughs, "I _might_ have got a _little_ overboard."

Blue Shift shrugs. "Well…you've got options. And may I say I'm just a bit more frightened of you than Pulsar right now?"

Xenomech's helmet retracts to show her grinning face. "Nice to know."

The rest of the day is grueling. Besides the intense concentration required by Pulsar and Blue Shift to get the most out of their suits, Pulsar decides to start teamwork training right away.

Blue shift can't move a person with his superspeed. At least, not without disintegrating them. Staring at the pile of dust that used to be a training dummy, Pulsar decides that's what he's going to be spending the majority of his training on.

"Hey, it's fine." She says, touching the ashen faced Blue Shift on the shoulder. Their interacting energies spark faintly. "When I first started, I couldn't touch anything I wasn't wearing without melting it or starting it on fire."

"And now?"

"Now I have healing abilities. Granted, it took a near death experience that resulted in me finally contacting the super-being that is literal source of my power to get there."

"Maybe…it'd help if we understood more about the source of _my_ power too." Blue Shift suggests.

"It can't hurt." Pulsar agrees.

Xenomech, it seems, is going to be an element of chaos on the battlefield. She's full of powerful attacks, her suit grants her a high level of super strength, though not quite comparable to Pulsar's maximum power. Her problem, it seems, is situational awareness. A little bit of light sparring proves she's susceptible to just about any feint Pulsar throws at her, literally. A tossed shipping container followed by a flanking maneuver gets her easily.

"This is dumb!" She complains, "I need my easy mode back. I want targeting assist. I can't focus if I have to aim at an incoming projectile and try to watch you at the same time."

"Well…can't you just add those in?"

She's silent for a moment, then Pulsar can hear the grin in her voice. "I'm gonna program an aimbot. Oh! And an IFF system! This suit sees way more than I do, it needs to work for me."

Satisfied her teammate's now have training goals, Pulsar moves them on to sparring. This proves problematic for Blue Shift.

"Ok, for starters, I'm not super comfortable hitting someone. Also, I'm not sure I _can_ hit someone at super speed without pulverizing my hand." He explains. "So, I'm not sure what sparring can accomplish."

"You don't have to hit or even hurt an adversary to be effective." Pulsar assures him, "Just do _something_ that'll affect me or any high durability opponent."

Blue Shift thinks about it for a moment, then smiles. "Ok, I think I got an idea you'll like."

"Just go for it. Don't tell me what it is."

He nods and zips out to a couple hundred meters away. Pulsar starts to brace herself when she sees him blur in her direction, but it's already too late. She senses, rather than sees his approach. What she doesn't have time to sense is the sonic boom that goes off next to her. She barely manages to react, her power anchoring her in place as the pressure wave washes over her. Bits of concrete and dust are kicked up and as the air displacement rebounds back, is sucked in to a thick cloud she can't see through. After a moment, she steps out of the cloud to find a smiling Blue Shift before her.

"Nice." She says, returning his smile, "That could knock someone down, send them flying, or like me, leave them stopped and blinded for a second. How'd you do that?"

"I figured if I can control the energy now, I can also control my air displacement. So…I kinda flipped it off for about three steps."

"Hah! I knew you could do more!" Xenomech shouts in triumph, "My design is amazing. Also, you are." She adds quickly.

"Ok, now I want you to try your taser thing." Pulsar says, and before Blue Shift can object adds, "Don't worry. I'll be ready. I can take it."

"Ok…but I'm not gonna use full power. Not even as much as I did the first time."

Pulsar nods.

Blue Shift gets some distance again. Pulsar gathers her power, focusing it into her bracer and getting the shield again. She pushes more and more power into it, until it's an opaque amber color, crackling around the edges with silver and gold electrical arcs. Then she waves to Blue Shift that she's ready, and braces herself. Again, she senses the approach. This time she can feel the touch of his power intersecting her own. Intersecting? This is a defensive shield; it should repel an attack. Then suddenly the change difference is hitting her the energy flows into her shield and suddenly everything seems to stop.

No. Nothing stopped. Blue Shift's energy is flowing around her body, through her suit, through _her_. Turning towards Xenomech, her shield dropping, she sees her frozen in place. Then she hears a startled gasp behind her. She turns and there's Blue Shift, staring in shock. Now he's crackling with energy too, her own colors mixed in with his.

"Pulsar…I can _feel_ it inside me. This…this is what you have in you all the time?"

She nods.

"It's…fuck this is kinda terrifying. I feel incredible and powerful; like I could rip a tank in half! It's not me, but it still feels right. It feels hot, but a good hot, like a sauna."

Pulsar feels the energy inside her before she responds. "Yours feels, gentle. It's warm and soft, I can feel it spreading over my skin."

"Ok ok…this is amazing but…how?"

Pulsar shakes her head. "No clue. Rin will be able to figure it out, I'm sure. But first…how do I stop? I'm not even sure if I should move."

"I'm not sure we should, like this. This power is too strong for me. I don't think I can contain it, if that makes any sense."

Pulsar nods. His energy is warm and pleasant, sure, but it doesn't belong. It's a visitor.

"I think," Blue shift continues, "If we touch again, our energies will go back to where they belong. Don't move, I'll come to you." He walks over to her, coming within arm's reach. "Brace yourself, I'm not sure what this will do."

They reach out, and touch their fingertips together. There's a brilliant flash and Pulsar has a sudden sensation of being locked in place, before suddenly she finds herself standing in the aftermath of Blue Shift's "taser" move, lightning arcing around her as it dissipates. Blue Shift is standing next to her looking relieved, and Xenomech is shouting in excitement.

"Your energy _interacted!"_ She yells excitedly, flying over to them. "I saw it! What was it like? Describe it to me! Do you realize what this means?!"

Once they settle her down and explain what happened and what they felt, she seems even more excited. "It means I'm on the right track! Your energies _are_ similar on a fundamental level. I'll install some particle sensors in the circle track. We need to figure this out. Also, don't try that again until we know more."

Pulsar and Blue Shift both agree. Though they share a glance. Sharing their energies had felt _really good_. Pulsar wonders if it can be done without being stuck in super-speed mode.

"Ok, Xenomech, lets see how your weapons do against my shield."

"What? Uhm…" She hesitates. "Ok, but only if you use the full shield."

"That's fine."

Pulsar readies herself, the dome of swirling silver and gold light surrounding her, as Xenomech takes up position about fifty meters away.

"Blue Shift, better stand behind me. I'm not totally sure what will happen here." Xenomech instructs, "So, just in case…"

"Yup. No problem." Blue Shift is standing behind her almost instantly. "You wouldn't happen to have a shield of your own, would you?"

"No but that's a good idea. Fire in the hole!" She shouts without waiting for a response.

The blue beam of the force cannon strikes the dome just to the left of Pulsar, and without seeming to actually touch it, deflect off it like a laser hitting a mirror and strikes a shipping container with a loud _GONG_ sound.

"Ohhhhhkayyy~?" Xenomech says, sounding perplexed. "That was low power dispersion hit. Let's try penetration."

She fires at the same point, with the same result, except this time the beam leaves a cleanly pierced hole in the container.

"Did you feel anything?" She asks Pulsar, this time over their radio link.

"Barely. Try full power." Pulsar replies.

"Uh, no, I don't want to demolish the arena. Quarter power."

She fires again and this time the deflected beam sends the container flying into a wall.

"Felt more pressure that time, nothing I couldn't handle." Pulsar reports.

"Ok, Plasma Beam next."

The Plasma beam strikes the shield and the beam scatters, diffracting in dozens of small beams in random directions, some of them shooting back towards Xenomech.

"Whoops!" She shouts in alarm, shutting down the weapon. "Ok, so let's put the Plasma Beam on the 'Emergency Only' list. I might swap it to shoulder mount with the gravitic bomb too."

"Yeah that was…kinda wild." Pulsar agrees, "Let's see that Gravity Bomb next."

"Gravitic." Xenomech corrects.

"You _know_ people are gonna get it wrong."

"I'm just giving the nerds something to be right about." Xenomech says as she fires the bomb at low power.

Pulsar reports little effect from the low power or medium power bombs. Though she does note that nothing inside her shield seems affected by the bombs. Finally, the plasma bomb seems to just flow off the shield and melt the concrete around it, revealing more of the shield protecting the concrete within.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Afterwards, showered and dressed, they reconvene at the conference table in the command post. More screens have been added since yesterday. And most notably, Rin _walks_ there, using a second set of powered braces like the ones integrated into her skinsuit. She wears them over her clothes, proudly, it seems.

"I have plans to build a full body rig eventually, Someday, I might retire Xenomech and become someone new, with my own powered suit design."

"Your dad's going to be shocked." Pulsar says with a smile.

"I know I can't wait."

"Now, back to super-business. Xenomech, it sounds like you've got a number of things to work out with your suit."

Xenomech nods, "The Gravitic Weapon and the Plasma Lance, I'm changing the name to Plasma Lance by the way, will swap places. The Plasma Bomb I'm going to replace with something else. Not sure what yet, maybe a second Plasma Lance, but there's just too much splash damage with it to be useful. Taking the Gravitic Weapon out of the bomb launcher position will reduce its power but I only used it at half power already and it's a bit overboard."

"What about replacing the Plasma Bomb with a sonic weapon?" Blue Shift suggests. "Like a weaponized version of that awful voice changer."

"Ohh~ I like that." Xenomech agrees. "I'll look into it."

Pulsar nods. "Ok. Blue Shift I want you to focus on making carrying someone safe. Your speed could make you an ideal rescue specialist."

"I'd feel more comfortable with that rather than trying to fight." Blue Shift says with a relieved nod, "Even if I can unleash a…hell taser…I'd rather only use it as a last resort."

"Definitely, at least until you can get some fine control out of it. Plus, you've got the uhm…lets call it a Sonic Stunner move, which is much safer and more manageable. Speaking of that, I'm thinking due to Xenomech's suit designs as they stand, we've stepped into some pretty clear battlefield roles. Between the shields and the energy blasts I normally use, plus my extreme level of durability, I'm a solid tank and damage dealer. I can defend others if I need to but I'm not quite fast enough to get them out on my own."

"I suppose that puts me in the striker position?" Xenomech asks.

"Definitely, aside from your wide variety of powerful offensive weapons, you're extremely maneuverable. I want you to get used to flying and fighting as well, since I'm not yet used to flying during a fight myself."

"Ok, so I'm getting the meanings of these roles from context, what's my role?" Blue Shift asks.

"Rescue and Control." Pulsar answers, "There's all kinds of things you can do without fighting. Besides getting people out of danger, you can move things around, stir up dust or smoke, disorient an opponent with sonic booms, or just repeatedly pelt them with rocks or bits of rubble."

"So, super helpful and also a super annoying hazard." He asks with a grin. "Yeah, I could do that."

"Oh, and I meant to ask, why did Possum Girl go flying like that? It looked like she just took on the arc of the rock you threw."

"Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think when I throw things like that, they become charge, and anything they hit takes on their velocity? Instead of like, transferring kinetic energy."

Xenomech stares at him in disbelief, "I can't believe you forgot to mention such an important detail. That's huge! Add that to the list of effects I need to observe and measure."

"Sorry, there was a lot going on."

"Regardless of why it works, it does." Pulsar points out, "So it makes you even more of a hazard to opponents." She glances between her two teammates. "Let's start regular patrols tomorrow. I'm already known and you two need more training so I'll probably take the majority of shifts. I'll ask Wrecker to start setting up obstacle courses for you. He knows better than me how to really do it right. Other than that, I think that's it for the day."

"Ahem, hello? Is this working?" Howard's voice suddenly emerges from a speaker in the table. "Hello Teen Justice League?"

"We're not calling ourselves that, Dad!" Rin exclaims.

Howard laughs, "Bill informed me he's installed a PA connecting your command room to the house, so I thought I'd try it out and let you know dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"We'll be there!" Pulsar announces, "Thanks Mr. Gaumont."

"And I've got a special surprise so be ready!" Rin says quickly.

"Ok I look forward to it. Uh…Dad out!" He closes the line with a click.

"Ok, dinner." Pulsar says, getting up. "Then, I'm going to patrol, and you two should probably talk fast force or uh…speed particles, or whatever we end up calling it. Quicktrons."

"Well definitely come up with something better than Quicktrons." Rin says.

"Yes. Please. That was terrible." Pulsar agrees.

"Zapons." Alex suggests. "Zip Force. Speedions. Fastiation."

"Nooooo…" Rin complains, "You're making it worse. This is serious science!"

"If you isolate the particle don't you get to name it after yourself?" Pulsar asks.

"You can but I haven't isolated anything yet." Rin replies, "I've still gotta set of detectors in the circle track, figure out their properties. There might be more than one in play here to for both of you. Especially you Pulsar given the two colors. Unless those are just spin states of the same particle type and…"

Rin continues to list her scientific challenges, walking with her hand in Pulsar's. Pulsar lets the sound of it wash over her, especially when Rin gets into science that goes beyond even her science fictional understanding. She looks over to Alex and they share a look, which gets a smile out of Alex. Good, he's enjoying it too. That means having him spend the rest of the evening with Rin is a good idea.

Howard is, almost literally, floored when he sees Rin walk through the door. And excited when he sees her rig. He has her explaining it al through dinner and then some when Pulsar excuses herself to go don her suit. She's just pressing the down button on the elevator when there's a faint _crack_ and Alex is standing in the elevator with her.

"Hey I…just wanted to say thanks." He says shyly, staring at the floor. "For…well everything, the invitation, your help here. I really thought I was gonna have to spend or steal a fortune of shoes just to go out stopping muggers twice a week after ballet."

"You do ballet?" Pulsar asks with a smile. "That explains your legs."

"Oh, haha, yeah. Uh…my legs?"

"They're really nice, and your butt too." Pulsar replies, still smiling.

"Oh…" He blushes, "A-and hey! That's another thing. Are you two…?"

"Yes, we've been trying to flirt with you." She finishes for him. "I'm glad you've noticed."

"Ok…that's a bit…uncomfortable." He says as his blush deepens.

"Sorry. Why's it uncomfortable?"

"Well…I don't want to have to choose bet-"

"Why choose?" She interrupts. "We're both interested. If you like us both there's no reason to choose. We already agreed on that, Rin and I. Are you not attracted to us? We didn't exactly talk sexuality when we were all coming out trans to each other."

"Oh! No. I mean, yes! Yes, I'm attracted. Rin is so cute and sexy, and not just in the skinsuit, though off, that thing. And you're just…so tall and gorgeous. It's just a little bit surprising. I'm not exactly big and masculine so I didn't think anyone but guys would be interested."

"You think I'm gorgeous?" Now it's Pulsar's turn to feel the heat in her cheeks.

"Yeah. And wise, I think. I mean, you definitely already _feel_ like the leader here. I like it. You don't try to push me to fight and I really appreciate that. I feel safer with you in charge."

He looks up with a shy smile and their eyes meet. Pulsar's heart rate jumps up and she can help biting her lip a little. Alex doesn't move as she steps up to him. He lets out a cute little gasp as she wraps her arms around him, holding him close.

"Alex, I'd like to kiss you."

"Isn't that moving a bit fast?" He asks tremulously.

"Maybe. About as fast as Rin and I moved. Little bit slower by two days, actually."

"Oh, then that's ok. I actually really want to kiss you both so-"

He doesn't get to finish as Pulsar tips his head back, he's not much taller than Rin, and bends to kiss him. He moans into the kiss a little, then his lips part and she takes the invitation to deepen the kiss. The elevator has stopped moving a long time ago. The two of them stand there for a good minute longer before Pulsar breaks the kiss with a gasp, leaving Alex panting for breath.

"W…wow." Alex finally manages. "You're uh…really good at that."

"Practice." Pulsar says with a smirk. "I should get going. And you should tell Rin how you feel and about this just now."

"She won't be mad?"

"Nah. She might be surprised I made the first move. When we started, she initiated everything. I was the shy one."

Alex laughs, a sound Pulsar finds delightful. "Not shy anymore."

"Rin basically cured that, I think. Ok, I'll see you later tonight if you're awake. Don't let Rin push you too fast. Stand firm." She says stepping off the elevator.

"I promise I will. Unless I decide I don't want to." Alex says with a grin.

Pulsar laughs as she sends the elevator back up and heads to the locker room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The underground complex is huge and empty, her footsteps echo on the steel floors. On her way, she see's Billie working on something in the command post. They exchange nods, Billie isn't one for talking at all while he's working. The nod is his equivalent to taking a break to talk for ten minutes. She dresses in the skinsuit quickly, pausing for a moment to check herself out in the mirror. She's not sure if those experimental hormones from MuTech are the reason, or if it's some interaction with her healing, but the changes had really accelerated for a while. Now…looking at her from the mirror is the woman she's dreamed of being for a long time. She's…become herself. Next, she's going to become even more, she suspects.

Once kitted out in her new suit, she presses a button next to her suit stand. Above her, a portal opens. Without jumping or much movement at all, she surges upward. The joy and thrill of flying fills her. Not bothering to keep her energy in she leaves a long trail of gold and silver energy as she shoots up above the city. She drops down to the common level of the rooftops in a long slow arc. She slowly weaves through the city, taking it in on a long spiral towards the city center where the oldest buildings are. They're not the tallest, or the most advanced. They're the oldest, relics of the city's founding, preserved and in use by the seven huge corporations that had built this place. She rises up above them and hovers. The sun is nearly set on the horizon. People have seen her, she's certain. Time to begin.

Time to test out some new, actually, less apparent powers. She focuses on her hearing, listening more intently. This time, she can feel her power, the power of The Pulsar and its incredible communication abilities, seeming to fill her ears. For a moment, she feels like she needs to pop her ears, then suddenly it clears and it's like she's hearing for the first time. There's a cacophony of sound that makes her wince. Slowly, it begins to filter out. The sounds of cars, refrigerators, power tools, every other thing that fills the city with random noise starts to fall away to leave the voices. Calm voices slip into the background. She begins sifting through the raised and strained voices. She's not sure how she filters what, but somehow, she hears what she's looking for. Trouble.

Two people arguing, nothing serious. That's someone yelling at a video game. Wow that is some _racist_ language, and _that_ is a made-up word she's pretty sure. A drug deal, the buyer is nervous, but the dealer is calm. Someone arguing with a cop over their speeding ticket. Then she hears the screaming.

Almost instantly she can tell it's not a movie. She also somehow knows exactly where it's coming from. She flares with power and shoots through the sky towards a set of windows. She sees it all in an instant, the middle-aged man with the gun, the woman, maybe a little older than her, sprawled on the floor, clothes ripped. Pulsar doesn't stop, she smashes through the window, scattering glass everywhere, and halts in front of the woman, shield up, just as the man fires.

The bullet doesn't even register, though she sees it, and then two more, clatter to the floor. The man is shouting now but she ignores him for now and holds out her hand to the woman. She's pretty, pale and blonde, not a natural blonde it seems, but only Pulsar's eyes would spot the roots right now. She's full figured, busty and dressed professionally, but no pants suit is going to hide her figure or her pretty face. Pulsar is pretty sure the diamond ring is an engagement ring.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes…" the woman pants. "Yes, I'm ok." She takes Pulsar's hand and helps herself up.

The man continues to shout, though he's lowered his gun and is mostly flinging insults. Pulsar continues to ignore him.

"I'm a reporter for The Eye, I think he thought this interview was going to be something else." The woman explains.

Pulsar nods. "You're hurt." She motions to the bruise forming around the woman's eye. "I can heal that, if you want."

The reporter shakes her head. "It's evidence. He's also got a security camera in here, feeds a private hard drive. I want it before he erases it."

" _Oh, I'm sure that won't be a problem._ "

They both turn at the sound of a new voice, obviously digitally altered. A dark cloaked figure is standing by the desk, holding what seems to be a hard drive they've just pulled from the computer.

The man's voice finally breaks in to Pulsar's studious ignoring of him. "Hold on one fucking minute you fucking wh-"

Pulsar's blast has all the force of a heavy slap, but it strikes him across the face, spinning him around and causing him to stumble into the wall and drop his gun. He slumps to the floor, stunned.

"Nice." Says the dark figure.

And they're really dark. Pulsar can't make out much about their form. They seem to be wearing a mask as well; a convex oval, blank and matte black, covering their whole face.

"Who are you?" Pulsar asks.

"Me? I'm a threat in the darkness, a nameless fear, chaos that creates new order, a promise of suffering and pain. I am-"

"The Menace." Pulsar finishes, interrupting.

They sigh in frustration, "Not _the_ Menace. Just Menace. You don't call yourself The Pulsar, right? Pulsar. It's your name. We're alike in that."

"We're nothing alike." Pulsar says, "I don't threaten people and rob banks for one. And I don't send assassins after people, for another."

"Ahh, yes, dear Molly. And now she's missing. What _did_ you do to her?"

"Saved her life."

"Indeed? Well, my dear Pulsar, we are more alike than you yet suspect. I wonder, you think it's me robbing those banks, have you figured out why?"

"I have some ideas."

"You know, you're the only one who's spotted the connection to Occam's. Don't wonder why I know that." They say quickly as Pulsar's eyes narrow.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to that hard drive." Says the reporter.

Meance's masked face turns towards her. "Evidence? Tell you what, I'll send it to you after I've cloned the drive. You're Jessie Wills, aren't you? You're a talented young reporter, I like your work so far, and you've done and excellent job looking into me. So, tell me, have I ever broken my word?"

"Not that I know of." Jessie admits.

"Then you know you'll receive this hard drive by courier tomorrow. Don't worry about where, my courier can find anyone."

"I don't think I have much choice." Jessie says with a shrug.

"You don't, but I'll return it to you anyway." They turn to go.

"Hold it!" Pulsar says quickly. "Give that to me. It's evidence of assault and attempted murder."

"And sexual assault too." Jessie adds helpfully. "Plus, other things."

"And…you'll just turn this over to the police?" Menace asks incredulously, "I can hardly allow that. He'll walk and I won't have what I need. Sorry Pulsar, but I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Who's going to ma-"

Her defiant line is cut off by a powerful tackle that carries her out of the window, a different one this time, and suddenly she's falling from the 40th floor amid shards of plate glass and something furiously pummeling her while hissing. Oh, Possum Girl again.

"Get! Off!" Pulsar shouts, blasting the enraged marsupial woman away.

Then she's still falling. She twists in the air, there's people below. Instantly she shoots towards the ground, charging her bracers and slapping her fist together, hoping her idea works. She slams into the ground on her back, cracking the concrete, as a huge dome forms at the top of a tall column of her energy, sheltering the pedestrians below from the falling glass. It shatters further on striking her dome, then slides off. Once all the broken glass is no longer a falling hazard, she drops the shield and flies back up to the destroyed office.

She finds the reporter, Jessie Wills, badgering the man at gun point about back-ups.

"C'mon you fuck!" She hurls a stapler at him, brandishing the gun wildly. "I know you have them!"

"They're off site ok!?" He yells, almost shrieking in falsetto, "I don't have access! I just got this job I'm sorry!"

Jessie flings a tray of files at him in disgust, then turns and hurls the gun out the broken window. Pulsar snatches it out of the air and crushes it to scrap before tossing it to the floor.

"Yeah that was irresponsible. Thanks." Jessie mutters. "I don't suppose you'd mind breaking into a bank's secure server vault, would you? You'd get the evidence."

"Uh…yeah, I'd mind. So no, I won't." Pulsar replies, "Besides, I think he's probably learned his lesson, right?" She glares at the man, now huddled in a corner far away from the windows.

"Yes! Yes! I promise no more hitting on the secretaries or anything! Even that cute guy in HR who kinda seems into me! Please, don't shoot my dick off!" He begs tearfully and rapidly.

Pulsar looks to Jessie in confusion.

"I may have made some threat to that effect." Jessie admits sheepishly, "In the heat of the moment."

"It's fine. But don't you want to press charges? Call the police?"

Jessie scoffs, "They won't do anything. Thanks anyway. His career is already ruined anyway, and isn't that what they complain about the most? Such a promising career ruined by the mean allegations? Right Chuck? And that's why he'll be a good boy and give me anything I want in the future unless he wants that video to hit the internet."

"Yup, no problem!" Chuck agrees frantically. "Can I go now? I…need to change. And shower."

"Yup, get gone." Jessie says, waving him away dismissively as he scrambles to his feet and sprints out the door, bouncing off the frame as he exits.

"Is blackmail standard ethical practice for journalists?"

"It's a step above fawning corporate mouthpiece." Jessie answers. "Pulsar, right? You're new to the city, what would you say to an interview right now?"

"No."

"Ok. I'll give you time to prepare. I'm gonna go now. Have a nice night!" And she leaves.

The rest of the evening is fairly quiet. Though part of it consists of Possum Girl occasionally catching up with her and hurling random heavy trash at her. Unwilling to engage the unreasonable possum woman, Pulsar opts to call it a night early and goes home. She finds Alex and Rin snuggled up on her couch, watching one of the Pokémon movies.

"Hey." Rin says waving her over, "Come sit with us."

Pulsar sits next to Rin and cuddles up to her as well. Zap wakes and takes the opportunity to hop up and curl up next to Pulsar. "I take it you two talked."

" _And_ kissed. A bunch." Rin brags.

"I'm a little bit overwhelmed. I've never dated anyone before." Alex admits, "But, I want to try this. Us. All three of us, I mean."

Pulsar reaches across Rin and squeezes his hand. "I'm glad. No pressure, we can move as fast or slow as you want. We've got lots to deal with after all."

"Then we're all agreed." Rin says with finality, "Now hush and watch the movie."


	4. Origins: Pulsar #4 - To Be Continued...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The culmination of Menace's Diabolical Plot

Three weeks of relative peace, and Pulsar appreciates it. Three weeks to train as a team, for her teammates to become accustomed to their personal power, and to working with each other. Three weeks for Pulsar to get better at fighting while flying, with Xenomech's help. Three weeks for Blue Shift to practice his super speed moves, nearly perfecting the Speed Taser, as well as mastering the Thunder Step, the Accelerator Vector, and his Rescue Carry. Three weeks for Xenomech to reconfigure her powersuit, turning the Plasma Lance into a projectile interception tool, and design a truly horrendous sonic weapon she calls the Aural Disruptor. Three weeks for the team to nearly master two full-team maneuvers, and for each pair to come up with at least one paired maneuver.

It means time to investigate further. Occam's Computer Repair service turns out to service every one of the banks hit by Menace's hired bank robbers. Still the goal eludes the group, and when confronted with the link, Flamestrike proves less than interested in it. Though he does at least promise to try and get an employee list. One day, Xenomech has an idea.

"They're doing the Hackers thing!" She shouts from the locker room shower one day after intense training, before running into the locker room where Pulsar and Blue Shift are talking about trading patrol nights. They stare at her. Pulsar crosses her legs.

"Don't you get it?" Xenomech demands, "The whole plot of Hackers…we literally just watched the movie last night I can't believe I didn't think of it then. Granted Pulsar was distracting me. But that's not the point! The scheme was to introduce a worm that would siphon off cent fractions from all kinds of interest transactions and calculations and put it into an account. Micro-embezzlement! That's what Menace is doing! Because you could do it with stock trades too! And all the bank are also corporate investment banks and the Xanadu Market runs 24 hours a day! They must be inserting something like that work into the computer systems when they're being repaired. If they're careful there won't even be a record because of Xanadu financial reporting laws! We're a huge tax haven here!"

"Uh…Rin, my love." Pulsar says stiffly.

"Hmm?"

Pulsar tosses her a towel. "Please think of poor Alex."

Rin catches the towel absently and glances at Alex, who is staring while turning increasingly bright shades of pink and red. Then, blushing furiously herself, Rin wraps the tower around her and edges back towards the shower.

"I'll just…finish…we can talk at the team meeting." Then she scurries, and almost slips, back to the shower.

Pulsar turns to beet red Alex. "Just…think of it as a preview? I mean, things are going well so…we might…soon…"

Alex laughs nervously. "Sure! Yeah…that's not going to leave my mind any time soon. She's really…"

"Yeah." Pulsar agrees. "It's still a thrill for me."

"Oh?" Alex says quizzically, "Oohhh~! Got it. Well, I'll get going." He stands then pauses, "You know, if you're feeling tense. Rin might be able to help with that. Like, right now even." He looks at Pulsar, still sitting with her legs crossed, and smirks through his blush.

Pulsar smiles, "Now that is a lovely and highly intelligent idea, Alex. Please lock the door on your way out, won't you?"

Alex grins. "No problem."

It's been three weeks for Rin and Pulsar to develop their relationship with Alex. Late evening movies, sometimes all three of them, sometimes just one of them with Alex while the other works late or goes on patrol. When it's Pulsar and Rin alone, they find themselves talking about Alex. They talk about the little things he does, often while making out, and what they do to him. If they're both still awake when he returns from patrols, their hungry looks have him quickly blushing and suggesting they all go to sleep because it's an early day tomorrow after all. They both think this is adorable.

Pulsar apologizes the morning after the first time this happens. "It just that we're both…you know…"

"Unbelievably thirsty?" Alex suggests. "Superhumanly horny?"

"Yes. That about sums it up." Pulsar admits.

"It's ok. I have to admit…it's nice. Just give me a little time to get used to it and then, maybe getting stared at by a pair of hungry she-wolves will be less embarrassing and more…inviting." His ears turn pink as he says the last part.

Pulsar smiles. "Then, we shouldn't stop?"

"Yes. Don't stop."

Alex's fathers think the entire situation is endlessly amusing, though they avoid teasing their blushing son. Kaspar's smirks and Lucius' approving nods, every time one of them kisses Alex in greeting or they spot two or all three of them holding hands, are more than enough. Howard is concerned at first, but before Pulsar or Rin have a chance to talk with him about it, it seems a long conversation with Kaspar sets him at ease. This is a relief for Rin who hadn't been looking forward to the conversation.

Thanks to the particle detectors in the circle track, Rin is able to identify the particles given off by Pulsar and Blue Shift. She explains her findings one day during a team meeting.

"They all seem to be sub-atomic particles, which is what I was expecting. But their behavior is so strange they don't conform to any theoretical model I can find. They _act_ more like elementary particles."

"Elementary particles?" Alex asks.

"The next step down." Pulsar answers, "Sub-atomic particles that make up things like electrons and protons."

"Right," Rin confirms, "You can think of them as the particles that impart certain properties to uh…larger…states of matter. It's a lot to go into but basically, whatever these are, they alter you two and matter around you, in fundamental ways. Gravitational forces are altered, electromagnetic fields are altered, your mass actually changes, you emit forms of radiation I can't identify which I'm pretty sure is made up of those strange particles. It's going to take a lot more work to figure out all the details, but for now I know enough to make a few more tools, particularly for Blue Shift."

"Tools?" Alex asks, leaning forward with interest, "I do like new tools."

Rin makes a dozen golf-ball sized spheres she calls Energy Pods that can be charged with any of Pulsar's or Blue Shift's energies. When thrown, they efficiently transfer the energy directly to whatever they hit. For Blue Shift in particular, it allows him to transfer velocity to a target, hurling them in along whatever vector the Pod is traveling in at the moment. It's a lot easier and more efficient than hurling rocks.

While the young superheroes have been training, their dads, and there's little question at this point that all three have effectively adopted Pulsar, have been busy building the new house. Billie's main involvement has been providing high quality lumber. Apparently, it's been harvested from the forest planted around the edges of the scrapyard. All Kaspar and Howard have needed to do is cut it to fit their needs.

All the while, Pulsar and Blue Shift are going out every night to find trouble in the city. Blue Shift, having learned to temporarily hide the streaks of blue light he usually trails everywhere, makes a habit of sneaking out of the base during his patrols. With Menace aware of Pulsar's interest in them, the team agrees to keep their involvement together as quiet as possible.

This seems to be prudent, especially one night when Menace actually approaches Pulsar.

She's flown into the downtown district. Having finally acquired a customer list for Occam's, she's decided to look into the remaining banks, hoping to find a clue about Menace's next target. Over the past few nights, she's eliminated several as being too small, or determined they're not good targets based on Xenomech's "Hackers Plot" theory. They'd all watched the movie together that night the theory had been proposed. It'd seemed plausible. Less plausible had been the lead's romance with Angelina Jolie's character.

Pulsar is shaking her head clear of the rather distracting memory of how Rin had been secretly teasing her all through the movie, in order to return to her study of the huge commercial bank before her, when she hears a faint hum behind her.

She whirls, fist flashing with energy, ready for a fight.

"Pardon me." Menace, because it has to be Menace in that black mask and billowing black cloak, says calmly. "I merely wish to talk."

"I should take you in." Pulsar says, lowering her fist, though it still glows with power.

"Which would accomplish nothing. Unmask me, perhaps, but you have no proof of any crime. And even Flamestrike, state-approved loose cannon that he is, makes sure he has proof."

"What do you want?"

"For you to leave me alone. Let me do my work. I’m trying to help this city, but I need resources. I can do great things for Xanadu, if I am allowed to."

"Robbing banks is the wrong way to go about it." Pulsar argues.

"As if the corporate overlords did anything differently. At least I am honest in my thefts. I harm no one but those who will not notice the losses."

Pulsar can hardly argue with that. The Banks have truly mighty insurance, according to Rin, their stocks actually experienced a boost. The citizens of Xanadu didn't even lose any of their savings, at worst were mildly inconvenienced by the banks being closed for a few days.

"Doesn't matter." She counters stubbornly, "You can't bring positive change that way. You'll end up as bad as they are even if you do end up succeeding."

"You think so hmm? Then join me, keep me honest."

"No. And why are you here to talk anyway? What's your game here?" She glances around, nobody seems to be watching them. She starts to listen instead, very intently.

"Just keep her talking a bit longer, boss." Says a tinny, staticky voice. "We're almost done here."

She doesn't catch what Menace is in the middle of say as she flares with power and takes to the air, flying towards the bank. She doesn't have halfway through circling it before she spots what she's looking for. Three figures clustered around a back door who look up as her glow lights up the ally.

"Scatter!" One of them shouts.

Two of them sprint away in different directions, while one, moving in a very familiar way, starts climbing the side of the building, fairly sprinting up the building on all fours.

"Possum Girl." Pulsar mutters, and fires a powerful blast of energy.

It catches the irredeemable criminal mid-leap, right in the chest, hurling her to the pavement hundreds of feet below. It barely slows her. She's instantly on her feet and clawing her way up towards Pulsar.

"Ok if that's how you want to be." Pulsar says, and flies upwards, almost to the top of the building.

As Possum Girl reaches her, she leaps at Pulsar. Anticipating this, Pulsar drops down below her and fires a blast of pure force, no heat, sending Possum Girl flying in a high arc towards the wide street on the other side of the building. She flies around the building and lands in the street. There's no traffic, no pedestrians, perfect. She touches down just as Possum Girl impacts the concrete. This time, however, she lands on her feet, hissing menacingly at Pulsar.

"I think it's time I took you in. Assault, breaking and entering, acts of terrorism. There's probably others."

"On a cold day hell!" Possum girl snarls, and charges.

She fast, but Pulsar's being training to deal with faster. Her shield bursts into existence and she counter-charges, slamming into Possum Girl and sending her flying by pulsing an impact blast through the shield itself. It doesn't even faze the savage girl, whose black clothes are now somewhat tattered, revealing bristling gray fur, and a long naked tail lashing in agitation. Her hood has come loose, and round ears stick out of bright blue hair. When she snarls, Pulsar can see those pointed, inhuman teeth. She really is just like a possum.

The fight is a strange contest. Pulsar can't mange to get a hold of Possum Girl. Possum Girl can't break through Pulsar's defenses. Pulsar continually increases the strength of her attacks and counters, and it only seems to make the impossibly durable Possum Girl madder. The pavement cracks and crumbles in places. Pulsar needs to end this before the property damage gets too high. Then she has an idea. While Possum Girl is flying in a long arc away from her, again, Pulsar tests her idea. Moments later, as Possum Girl is charging her once more, she puts her plan into action.

Sidestepping the charge, she seizes Possum Girls arm. Gold energy coils around it. She snatches the other arm as Possum Girl is yanked to a stop, forcing both hands behind her back. More golden energy coils around both arms, holding them in place. She begins forcing Possum girl to the pavement, "ropes" of gold energy coiling around her tail and legs, restraining her.

"Now that's enough." Pulsar says.

"NO! LEMME GO!" Possum Girl shrieks, panic in her eyes. "STOPPIT! NO! LET GO! STOP STOP STOP STOP-"

She begins to thrash wildly, spittle and foam flying from her mouth, her eyes rolling wildly. She thrashes so hard Pulsar starts to become concerned, then suddenly, she stiffens, her eyes roll back until they show only the whites, and her body collapses.

Pulsar's energy bonds vanish. "What the…hey! Are you-"

**_"Leave her alone!"_ **

She doesn't get to finish as that shout, in the form of a blast of solid sound and force, hurls her away. Her ears ring and her vision swims as she tumbles through the air, hits the pavement and skids several hundred feet into a concrete traffic barrier, cracking it in half. Woozily, she drags herself to her feet, and tries to focus her swimming vision on where she's pretty sure Possum Girl still is. Her vision swims and warps. She's pretty sure she can see a dark form standing over Possum Girl. The warbling ringing in her ears makes it impossible to hear what they're saying. She sees the figure heft Possum Girl over their shoulders and then fly away.

Then she leans over the barrier and vomits for a couple minutes. Eventually, somehow without her healing kicking in, she manages to recover enough to climb into the air and fly, corkscrewing through the sky, towards home.

"What the hell happened?" Rin shouts from her wheelchair as Pulsar staggers into the surface lab. She can't fly straight enough to make it through the underground. She can barely walk.

"Alex." She managed to slur around a tongue that won't obey her and numb lips.

"Alex!" Rin screams immediately.

The response is almost instant. Alex is there, helping her lay down while Rin frets and Zap whines in worry. "What happened?" He asks. "Why aren't you healing?"

Pulsar can't focus her eyes, she grabs at his arm, gets ahold and pulls him close. "Zjap meh." She manages, and taps her head. She can't explain it in her condition, and can barely understand the instinct that says she need it.

"Wh…you sure."

Pulsar nods and the whole world seems to spin on a new and alien axis. "Duit!"

Alex nods and, in a flash of blue lightning, waves his hand over her head while giving her just the gentlest tap of her forehead with one finger. The energy surges into her brain and she welcomes it, clearing her senses and realigning her scrambled neurons. In an instant whatever it was affecting her vanishes, and she sits up, breathing deeply and feeling as if she's seeing the world again for the first time. All the colors are oversaturated, lights bloom around her, but with a pleasant softness that's comforting. In a few seconds, this too fades as her own energies being to clear the foreign speed energy.

"Oof…thanks." She says finally.

"Ok, two questions." Rin says, the panic receding from her tone, "Why did that work?"

"I'm not sure, just some instinct said I needed it. Maybe The Pulsar sensing my distress. But you know how I always feel really refreshed after practicing energy share with Alex?" Rin and Alex nod. "I think it has something to do with that. There's always a little bit of residual speed energy left over, and my energies seem to do something with it."

"Ok, worth investigating someday." Rin says, "Now, _what happened?"_

Pulsar sighs. "Menace happened." She quickly explains the events of the evening. "I don't know what it was, felt like that disruptor of yours, Rin, only a thousand times worse. And yours never caused a reaction like that."

"Damn. I knew I should have fitted the suits with their own sensors." Rin laments, "I was too focused, too proud of making them with no electronics at all."

"It's not your fault." Alex assures her, "The energy levels Pulsar and I can put out, we'd have probably fried them a hundred times over by now."

"I can come up with something." Rin says angrily, "I should have."

"Stop that." Pulsar puts her hand on Rin's knee and squeezes gently. "We both know there were higher priorities."

Rin sighs, her anger and self-recrimination deflating. "Obviously you're right. But now it is a priority. I need to understand this weapon. So, a sensor that can record mid-fight it _is_ my next priority."

Pulsar nods, "Besides that, we did learn something. Menace is, oh and it's just Menace, it's their name jut like mine is Pulsar, anyway Menace is definitely a high-tech genius. They might even rival you, Rin, with a weapon like that. Who knows what they could do with serious resources, assuming your theory is correct."

As if on cue, there are three _blaat_ sounds from a speaker on the wall.

"Proximity alarm." Rin says.

Pulsar gets up and heads for the door. "You two stay here. No arguments." She insists when they both start to move. "It's probably Menace and I do not want them to know any more than they already do. You too Zap. Stay. There's a good boy."

At their understanding nods, she rushes out into the night while Rin, Alex, and Zap watch her with concern in their eyes.

She finds Menace about a hundred meters outside the entrance. She can hear the perimeter defense weapons, Wrecker's own designs, whirring and complaining in machine language, unable to focus on their target. Some kind of electronic countermeasures. But maybe that's as close as Menace can get?

Of equal interest, is Menace. Their mask is off, the cloak open and its hood is down. Menace wears some kind of form fitting bodysuit that covers everything bit their face. A helmet hangs from their waist. There seems to be light armor integrated into the piece, with a hardened breastplate and shoulder armor, as well as a harness rig over it that must contain whatever method Menace uses to fly. There forearms have football sized gauntlets on them, and they're wearing bulky boots that also seem to have thrusters in them. Overall, it reminds her or something. Maybe something from a game?

Menace is slim, most of their physical details are masked by the unnatural deep black of the bodysuit, but Pulsar can make out that much with her enhanced vision. Mostly she can see their face. Menace has sharp, angular features, a strong jawline, high cheekbones and a hawkish nose. Their dark eyes are large and wide, topped by dark, serious eyebrows. Their mouth is wide, with full lips set in a hard line at the moment. Overall, the effect is that of a noble countenance, even fairly attractive, but Pulsar can't decide if it's masculine or feminine in impression. Maybe neither?

"That's close enough." They hold up one hand, and the gauntlet hums with a low, thrumming tone. "I'm not here to fight, just to talk, no uh…official business. But don't think I won't give you another shot of the Tuned Disruptor if you try anything."

Pulsar stops and stands, hands on her hips, a mere fifty feet away. She could probably take Menace out in a bad way with a full body blast right now, Tuned Disruptor or not. But it'd risk killing them.

"Ok, talk. No official business."

"I actually wanted to…make sure you were ok. If I'd known you were working with Wrecker I wouldn't have worried. I thought he was inactive."

Pulsar nods, "Billie's a friend. He's still inactive, but he helps a little. Is…Possum Girl…"

"Mindy, since we're not talking business." Menace interrupts. "Regular names makes it feel less official, you know?"

"Ok. Is Mindy ok? It seems like I triggered something there. I didn't mean to do that." It'd been a little bit frightening, now that she thinks about it.

"Getting tied up by force is typically not very fun. But she has…particularly bad history with being restrained. Thanks for understanding. She's calming down at home. She'll be ok, though you might drop by Yard 5 and apologize in person."

Pulsar nods, "Yeah, I will. And I like that, using regular names, but maybe not real ones, as kind of a truce signal. Though, you and I can't do that, can we? We're only ever Pulsar or Menace."

"Well, I took off my mask." Menace says significantly.

"Good point." Pulsar peels off her mask and slips it into the utility belt she'd insisted Rin add to her suit.

"I'm surprised even you are already up and walking around. I…kind of panicked a little and hit you with a full blast." Menace admits.

"It's fine. I had a little help." Pulsar admits.

Menace nods, "Good. I don't actually want to kill or hurt anyone if I can help it."

"Is that all you came to do?" Pulsar asks. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but…isn't it a bit odd for us to be talking like this?"

Menace shrugs. "Maybe. We have irreconcilable differences in our approach to helping this city. So, we're bound to be adversaries. But that doesn't mean we can't make some kind of connection. We don't have to be enemies. Does that make sense?"

Pulsar cocks her head, "Yeah. I think I get it. Ok, adversaries. Just don't think I won't put everything I've got into undermining and halting every one of your schemes I can. I still think your way is fundamentally wrong."

Menace smiles. It's a mischievous, scheming smile. It's also quite attractive. "I honestly hope you do. And I'm going to make every step a challenge. I'll make you go all out against me. That's a promise."

Pulsar finds herself grinning back at the prospect of a serious challenger. "Deal."

Menace turns to go and pauses, looking over their shoulder. "My pronouns are they and them. In case you were wondering."

"Mine are she and her." Pulsar says with a nod. "And yes, I was wondering a bit."

Menace seems to find this amusing because they smirk as they turn away, put their helmet and mask on, then in a burst of blue repulsor light, take to the air. After a moment the defense canons stop complaining, indicating the non-target is out of their detection range.

Once Pulsar is out of her suit, and the three young supers are back on the couch, Pulsar explains her encounter.

"That's actually, kinda cool." Alex says, "I just hope it turns out to be real."

"You're sure it's not some kind of ruse to get your guard down?" Rin asks.

"Well, I don't doubt they'd take advantage if I did let my guard down. But I don't think that's their intent. I think they're like us, queer, on a mission, and maybe trying to feel less alone in it all. I get a sense they care about Possu-…Mindy quite a bit. Just from the way they shouted at me when I had her pinned. Plus their tone was different from when the mask was on."

"Adversaries, not enemies." Muses Alex, "Tone isn't much to go on but if it's true, I think we should accept it."

"Hmm…" Rin shakes her head, "I'm not going to trust it yet. And I'm going to plan accordingly."

Pulsar nods, "I understand. One of us should stay wary until they've proven themselves beyond doubting."

"Are you really going to go apologize to Possum Girl?" Rin asks.

"I said I would, so I will." Pulsar answers, "Who knows what that terror comes from. I wanted to see her arrested no traumatized. Or re-traumatized."

Rin shakes her head and smiles, "You are the sweetest," she kisses Pulsar's cheek, "Kindest," she kisses the other cheek, "Most compassionate woman." She kisses Pulsar on the lips, and keeps her there for several seconds. "This city doesn't deserve you."

Alex chuckles, "Sure, but maybe the city could use some compassion."

Rin snuggles up to Pulsar, "Hmm…I don't wanna watch anything. I think I want something else…" Her hand moving up Pulsar's thigh indicates what that could be.

Pulsar smirks. "I think I'd like that. And I'd like you to join us, Alex, if you feel ready."

Alex chews his lip lightly. "I was…actually going to ask the next time you two started…so yes, I'm feeling ready."

The rest of the evening, and much of the night, passes in a swirl of new and wonderful learning experiences.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pulsar does end up going to Possum Girl to apologize. The surly marsupial grumbles but accepts. Pulsar informs Flamestrike of her confrontation with Menace. As it turns out, he's finally decided to take her information about Occam's Repair seriously, and as it happens, there are only two banks left contracted with the service that fit the profile of the other robberies. The two largest and most powerful banks in the city; Xanadu Central Investment Bank, which is the very first bank founded in the city and holds much of the wealth of the seven corporations that founded it; and Holden & Holden Commercial Investment Bank. With limited resources, he's placed a covert watch at XCIB, while Pulsar starts making daytime and evening flybys of H&H. Flamestrike seems certain the next target will be the XCIB, Pulsar decides not to disagree and does her flybys without telling him.

The three weeks of peace ends with a bang.

It's actually more of a long fuse to a huge explosion. It begins with ten black sedans parking out front of the Xanadu Corporate Investment Bank. The plainclothes Police officer on watch immediately informs his headquarters and makes a separate call to Flamestrike. Other banks have been robbed like this. Immediately a helicopter is deployed while Flamestrike, his sidekick Shadow Blade, and many other officers scramble to respond. Within minutes, the helicopter spots Possum Girl, sprinting over rooftops, a large backpack on her shoulders. Almost as an afterthought, Flamestrike sends a text to Pulsar, informing her of the situation.

"ROBBERY. XCIB. MIB TYPE. BACKUP REQD."

Pulsar can't help but feel appreciated. He actually called her for backup. She taps the new improved suit radio. "Blue Shift, Xenomech. The XCIB is being robbed. Suit up and deploy. Overwatch and reserve positions for now, no reports of Supers on site."

They both respond that they're on their way, a little bit breathlessly. Apparently, they were in the middle of something. Pulsar shakes her head, it's been like that ever since Alex joined her and Rin in bed, all three of them seem barely able to keep their hands off each other. She wonders, if they didn't have anything else to do, is that how they'd spend all their time? Surely they'd at least have to take breaks, right? For food? Sleep?

She has no more time to think about it as she lands next to Flamestrike, just as the police perimeter is being set up. Many things can be said about the CXPD, one is they're skilled at deploying quickly, and in numbers.

"I heard you fly now, and the new suit looks good." Flamestrike comments. "Actually…kinda looks better than mine. Who's your tailor?"

"You'll meet her later." Pulsar says with a smirk from under her hood, "What's up?"

"We're not sure." Flamestrike says with a shrug, "There's no alarm, nobody's left but this isn't normally a high foot traffic bank."

"Isn't it weird to use the MIB approach in a bank like this?" She asks.

"Ehhh…maybe, but they did the same thing at Xanadu Corporate Credit Union." Flamestrike points out.

"Half the group was arrested there too. I wouldn't expect Menace to make the same mistake twice." Pulsar counters. "There's something off here. Menace _knows_ we're on to them. They have to assume we're on to their methods by now. It's the perfect time to change tactics."

"That's what I've been saying!" Shadow Blade exclaims from his seat on the hood of Flamestrike's truck. "I know traps. I'm a Dungeon Master, this is definitely a trap. I wouldn't even throw this trap at my dumbest players it's such an obvious trap! It's the trappiest crap trap that ever trapped!"

"Get offa there." Flamestrike says absently. Shadow Blade ignores him. "What're we supposed to do? I've got units going after Possum Girl, and we can't deploy to both potential banks."

"There's no supers here, you don't need my backup." Pulsar points out. "So, I _can_ deploy to H&H. I think you should get ready to move. Just in case."

"We're going to storm the building, you sure you don't want to be around for it?" Flamestrike asks.

"If it's really a trap, I need to get moving."

The last thing she hears before she vaults into the sky is Flamestrike telling Shadow Blade to move the truck, just in case.

"Blue Shift, get to H&H, be quiet about it. Xenomech, do you see anything?"

"On it." Blue Shift responds quickly.

Xenomech waits a beat. "I _just_ spotted Menace walking into the building, in full costume like you described. And that's not all. There's some _weird_ EM and heat signatures clustered all around H&H. If I had to guess, there's a bunch of supers wait- holy shit! I just registered a major sonic pulse from inside the building! That's got to be the Tuned Disruptor. Looks like the building is locking down too, I see heavy blast shutters closing all over."

Pulsar kicks up her speed, barely under the speed of sound now. "Damn!" She curses, "Can you counter it?"

"I can refine my work so far based on what I made already thanks to your description and how it might have done what it did to you. I can't promise more than partial countermeasures. I'm setting my onboard computer to analyze any new pulses and make adjustments on the fly."

"It'll have to be enough." Pulsar says as she lands in front of Holden & Holden Commercial Investment Bank.

She lands hard, ignoring finesse, and gouges two grooves in the concrete with her boots. A moment later, Blue Shift joins her.

"I've got the civilians fleeing, and I got a closer look around. Xenomech's right, we've got supers here. Maybe a dozen or more. A few faces I recognized, including King Croc."

"Shit. Xenomech, send to Flamestrike. We need emergency backup."

"Sent." Xenomech responds immediately.

What they don't know at this moment, is the police have rushed the building, and found all the men in suits making deposits in safety deposit boxes. One startled clerk actually hits the alarm as the police rush in. As the police are leaving, once the last one is out the door, all the men in suits pull weapons, take hostages, and bar the door. But Flamestrike is already leaving, burning rubber as he speeds towards Pulsar's position.

For a moment, nothing else happens, Pulsar and Blue Shift stand before the cathedral-like edifice of H&H Bank, waiting.

"Maybe we should just go inside." Blue Shift suggests.

This suggestion is answered by a huge form leaping from the roof between the two tall spires of H&H. It smashes into the pavement, though only the pavement is smashed, and stands.

"Menace don'wanna be in-tah-rupted." The huge, twelve-foot-tall man, apparently made entirely of granite, says. "S'impoh-tant, bidness."

The ground shakes and more pavement cracks as two more huge forms join him. One made of gravel, the other made of some angular rock, carborundum. Pulsar knows, not because she knows that much about minerology, but because she recognizes these three.

 **Small Time** [gravel], **Big Time** [granite], and **Hard Time** [silicon carbide, aka carborundum]. Part-time construction workers, part-time criminal enforcers, full-time assholes.

"You-awooooooooo~are outta your league girly!" A voice howls from a rooftop behind her.

As Pulsar turns, she sees half a dozen men in jean shorts and tank-tops completing their transformations into bestial were-creatures. Were-bear, were-wolverine[wereverine?], were-cougar, were-buffalo[why? how?], and surprisingly no were-wolves. There is one were-squirrel though. The one doing the howling is obviously a were-husky. It's the gods-damned **Beastly Boys**. Pulsar heard Possum Girl used to run with them until they started trying to form a boy band. She probably didn't want to end up in Copyright Court.

"It's time for me to get my supah- _freak_ on!" says a, somehow, extremely funky voice, from down the street.

"Oh gods, please don't." A second complains.

The floating disco ball and impossible blue afro are unmistakable. The pastel striped high waisted bell-bottom pants, the garish red platform boots, and sky-blue plaid shirt with some extremely necessary buttons conspicuously missing, letting their excessively wide lapels fly free, are just unnecessary offenses to the eye. Funkytown, dance fighter, illusionist, and proof of the overwhelming hubris of humanity's sense of fashion, is hard to miss.

His dour companion is usually more impressive in his magical gauntlets, rune-scribed plate armor, and ethereal spirits flowing around him. Battle Mage looks downright dull in present company. He also looks upset about being here today.

"Xenomech, get ready to Drop The Bass on the roof. Blue Shift, make the odd couple dazed and confused. I've got the rock-ettes. We move when Xenomech hits. Ready?"

"Ready." Her teammates answer simultaneously.

"Hit it."

A lot of tings happen all at once. Xenomech dives out of the sky, Aural Disruptor charging with a bass beat from hell as she falls. Every window for a block around her cracks or shatters from a wave of discordant bass tones. Three Beastly Boys are sent flying. Were-husky howls as he arcs through the air. At the same time, a dual set of sonic booms hurl Funkytown sideways while Battle Mage tries to block the noise and instead gets hidden by dust.

Pulsar doesn't get to see all this. She's charging at Big Time. Big Time's left leg, in fact, which he is raising kick at her with. She slams into it, forcing it back, then up, picking him up, and flipping him head over heels. She doesn't get to savor it because Small Time is leaping into the air, much higher than his bulk should allow, and slamming into her, trying to engulf her. Reacting on instinct she lets out a full body blast of energy, scattering the gravel man in all directions. Before she can take stock of her surroundings, a hard, sharp, elbow strikes her in the gut, driving the wind out of her, and smashing her bodily into the H&H building. Coughing, she pulls herself from the faux marble siding, and glares down at Hard Time.

"Silicon Carbide is a hard mineral, right?!" She shouts. And as Hard Time starts to answer, she interrupts, "LETS TEST THAT OUT!"

Pulsar's two-fisted beam smashes into Hard Time, it's all force, striking him directly in the chest. He smashes into the pavement, then as the beam holds him down, gouges a long deep furrow in the street until he hits and then goes through the building on the other side.

"Leave mah bruddah alone!" Big Time shouts as he throws a right hook that catches Pulsar in the entire body.

Again, she smashes into the H&H building, this time with a giant fist holding her there. She focuses and forms a stream of pure heat from her fist, and touches it to Big Time's hand.

"Owwwww~!" The giant complains, yanking his hand away.

Pulsar wastes no time. She drops to the ground, then leaps upward with most of her strength, driving a massive uppercut, backed by a wide beam of force, into Big Time's chin. He lifts off the ground several meters, bits of stone breaking off his chin, and falls to earth, landing directly on his gravelly brother, scattering him again, and lays still.

Pulsar takes stock of her surroundings. Xenomech has just blasted the last Beastly Boy off the roof shouting, " ** _Do not be afraid, Humanity! I am here to help._ " **Which is very angelic of her. Meanwhile, Funkytown is staggering away, clearly concussed, while Battle Mage is laying on the ground next to a concrete barrier, moaning in pain.

Blue Shift catches her curious look as she lands next to him. "I think he cast a spell to swap our speed or something. Couldn’t handle it and stripped on that barrier. Looks like a broken leg."

 ** _"Medical scan indicates the enemy will survive."_** Xenomech announces, **_"However, Xenomech suggests he leave, more foes approach."_**

The bullet that ricochets off Xenomech's armor catches them all by surprise.

 ** _"Xenomech will handle these vandals!"_** She announces, and blasts off towards the pair that's already firing rockets at her while laughing hysterically.

Pulsar recognizes them, the candy pastel colored harlequin outfits, the unreasonable bundle of weapons and explosives. Laffy and Taffy are mercs, criminals, outstanding in all areas of fighting, and two of the best cosplayers in the city. They only act murderous, but they cause more property damage than most at the same time.

There isn't much time to watch Xenomech engage them as two more figures come up the street, walking and snapping like a pair of West Side Story extras.

"I think those are Riff and Raff." Blue Shift says, "I think I can handle them."

It's a good thing He zips off when he does, because Pulsar does _not_ spot the blast the sends her flying into the air. She rights herself and sees something she could not have possibly expected.

Striding out from an ally, in her signature combat boots, ripped and skin-tight blue jeans, tattered pink crop top freckles everywhere on her pale skin, long, fiery red hair streaming in the wind, eyes blazing red, her only armor a pair of bright red gauntlets: Cherry Bomb.

Arguably the toughest, meanest, most successful hero in the city, the woman who pummeled King Croc into submission in full view of the public, and she's fighting for Menace? No, Pulsar spots one more thing, a spinning star above her head. Nobody knows why, but it's his biggest weakness, The Twizzler's mind control targets always end up with that spinning star above their heads.

"The Twizzler is in the area." She says over the radio. "Someone better take him out before Cherry Bomb kicks my ass."

And then she's fighting for her life. Cherry Bomb is powerful, her blasts overwhelm Pulsar's shields before she can strengthen them. Concussion blasts send her flying when she tries to close, followed by firebombs that singe her suit and hair. Any beam or blast she manages to get off just gets sucked up by Cherry Bomb's energy absorption and hurled back at her as a firebomb. She amps up her attacks, throws mor and more of her strength into her fight, Cherry Bomb dodges like she can see the future, eats up energy as she likes, and drives Pulsar back practically up against the H&H Bank. Fires are starting. Concrete and building edifice are pulverized. For the first time in her hero career, Pulsar is feeling bruised, sweaty, tired. Soon, she's given up holding back. If any of her attacks could connect with Cherry Bomb unguarded, she'd surely be a goner, but Cherry Bomb's just too good. Pulsar's studied her almost religiously, since they have similar powers, she can see every move. But she can't get ahead of them.

She throws one more massive blast, then as she's about to accept any hits just to close with Cherry Bomb, the older hero raises her hand and fires the energy she just absorbed into the air. Pulsar hesitates, then Cherry Bomb suddenly goes down on one knee.

"I got his staff!" Blue Shift announces triumphantly, waving two pieces of a very broken staff.  
 ** _"I have captured this Twizzler!"_** Xenomech announces.  
"It's _The_ Twizzler you alien dolt!" Twizzler complains.

Pulsar rushes forward to check on Cherry Bomb, but when she arrives, the older hero is getting to her feet.

"It's nothin' kid, just a little dizziness from having this fucker's mind control broken suddenly." She turns to the captive Twizzler [ _The_ Twizzler], "I outta blast yer nuts off ya creepy fuck! You better be happy these kids caught ya an' not my husband or you'd be waitin' ta be turned inta fish food! Now git!"

Xenomech lets him go while Blue Shift flings the staff pieces down the road, boosted by his super speed.

"Wait, you're married?" Pulsar asks.

"Yeah. Ta him." She points.

Pulsar turns, and curses for several seconds. Coming up the road, is King Croc. There's a loud rumbling from the other direction and when Pulsar turns, she regrets using up her best wears on King Croc. A column of tanks, mecha, and other armored fighting machines, is making its way towards H&H Bank. Somehow, Pulsar can feel the cold malevolence of all of them.

Pulsar refocuses on the important matters. "You married King Croc?!"

"Nah it's not weird. He begged me to come down to his realm to visit after I pummeled him. He's a real sweat heart. Never thought I'd meet a guy with the guts to actually try _romancin'_ me. N'steada tryin'ta come up with all kinds'a ways ta impress me." She waves at King Croc. "Hey babe!"

King Croc waves back. Shyly. Pulsar can't believe it.

"Ok, so that looks like Rage of the Machine comin' up the road there." She points at the host of machines. "So, I'm gonna let you deal with hubby while I help out yer pals, kay?"

"I'm…not sure I can take him." Pulsar admits.

Cherry Bomb nods, "That's cool, but from what I saw, I think you can hold'im till your backup gets here."

Pulsar breaths deep. "Ok. I think I can do that."

She strides out into the middle of the street while Cherry Bomb rounds up her teammates while asking if they know was a Prince Albert maneuver is, then explains it to them. Pulsar and King Croc stop about twenty feet away from each other.

" **You should leave, kid.** " Croc growls.

"Can't do that, your majesty." Pulsar replies. "If I do that now, you won't respect me. If you don't respect me, our next confrontation will be more dangerous for bystanders."

" **Thinks so? Menace already won. We don't _have_ to fight.**"

"Maybe. But we're going to anyway."

King Croc grins a horrible sharp-toothed grin. Cherry Bomb kisses this?! " **Think I like you already, kid. Ok, lets rumble.** "

Pulsar can't believe how fast he is. His first swing makes a long gouge across her breastplate and she barely avoids having her chest ripped open. His fist follows, somehow with no delay and she has to blast herself backwards to avoid it. For what seems like a long time she's on the defensive, barely able to get a shield up at times, only just avoiding certainly fatal blows otherwise. King Croc doesn't hold back at all, it seems. And she cannot afford to either. As the street turns into a war zone behind her, as her teammates engage the mechanized force alongside Cherry Bomb, Pulsar unleashes her own war.

She blazes, channeling ever particle of power and strength she can find, then reaches for more. Her blasts shatter the street and melt the road base blow. Windows shatter at the sound of the first impact of her fist on his jaw. Unlike with Cherry Bomb, he simply accepts the blows he can't avoid, his leathery skin blisters, then starts to heal before her eyes. She breaks his arm, it pops back into place a second later, though the blows from it are marginally weaker than before. His tail slams her into a wall, his fist sends her bouncing across the concrete. She feels deep bruises and injuries heal nearly as fast as she endures them. Most importantly she avoids he claws and his bite. Those will certainly make for fatal, or near fatal injuries she can't afford. Then she realizes, she's beginning to tire, and he's just as good to go as he was when they started. How long as it been? Five minutes? Ten? Where is Flamestrike. She barely avoids another blow before, in a fit of desperation, she forms her shield into a blade of pure heat and slashes at the arm, halfway cutting through it. He roars in pain and before she can throw up a shield, his fist slams into her.

When she skids to a stop, someone helps her to her feet. It's Flamestrike. Next to him is Shadow Blade, dark sword at the ready and fierce, ready to fight God and laugh.

"Holy shit Pulsar, King Croc?" Flamestrike says in amazement. Then he shouts at the lizard monarch, "King Croc! Retreat now, or this will end very badly!"

King Croc looks at them, then behind him, where the street is a burning mess of mechanical wreckage. Before the flames, stands Cherry Bomb with Pulsar's teammates. Blue Shift looks badly scuffed and his suit is torn in places. Xenomech's Plasma Lance is gone, and her Force Beam is smoking. Cherry Bomb is battered bruised, bloody in places, and grinning.

"I'd do what he says, hon! I'll see you later!" She shouts with a smile.

King Croc nods, " **Until next time!** " Then he stomps his foot, collapsing the roof of a storm drain tunnel, and vanishes into it.

A moment later Pulsar suddenly feels her strength go and barely stops herself from collapsing. She manages to stagger to a concrete barrier, a huge half meter by tree meter block, and sit down on it, elbows on her knees, hood thrown back as she hangs her head in exhaustion.

"Got-dayum!" Cheery Bomb exclaims, "You sure left it all out in the street, kid." She slaps Pulsar's shoulder, rocking her sideways. "Hell, all over the street don't cut it. The street didn't fukkin' last."

Most of the street is overturned or shattered concrete. Three buildings have collapsed while others have lost most of their street-facing edifices. There isn't an intact window or street light in sight. The only thing standing mostly intact is the H&H Bank, apparently because there's armor plating under the edifice. Even as Cherry Bomb motions to the wreckage, part of a wall collapses to reveal the offices behind it. Several small fires have broken out as well, and a ruptured water line is spraying into the air nearby.

"You trained this kid, Frankie?" Cherry Bomb asks Flamestrike.

Flamestrike smiles, "Yeah, and she trained those two." He motions to Blue Shift and Xenomech.

"Cherry Bomb, it's an honor to meet you." Blue Shift says politely.

" _Greetings Earth Woman! You may call me Xenomech._ "

"Drop the act kid, you ain't an alien. I've met aliens, and you ain't it." Cherry Bomb says sarcastically.

Xenomech's helmet pops open. Pulsar would object if she weren't so tired, but least she's wearing a mask under it. "What! How could you tell?"

"I just said I've met aliens, didn't I?"

"This is why she doesn't train anyone." Flamestrike says, "You don't explain anything, Charlie. Xenomech, she probably was cued in by the way you move, fly, and fight. That tech's not Earth-based but you move like someone who's never been to space. There's no one detail to it, but it shows to an experienced eye. The name's cool though, keep that."

"Whatever, my point is ya raised up a fukkin' spitfire here. S'a compliment. Stamina needs work though. I could help with that at least. What'chya say Pulsar?"

"Sounds good." Pulsar get off the barrier with a groan. Instantly Blue Shift is next to her, with Xenomech half a heartbeat behind. "It's ok, I'm fine, except for my everything hurting."

"Shit kid, between the beating I handed ya and my hubby's fists, I'm shocked yer still standin'." Cherry Bomb says, "I took yer hits an' sent'em back twice as hard. That's your own power pummelin' you."

Pulsar takes a deep breath and straightens up. Her power is slowly returning. She's never felt this depleted before. Cherry Bomb is right, she needs more stamina if she's going to take on the likes of King Croc again.

She points to the H&H building. "Menace is still in there."

"I could cut my way in-" Xenomech starts, her helmet closing,"Er no…my plasma lance is destroyed. Nevermind."

"There's still people inside." Blue Shift points out. "I don't think we should force out way in. Not with the power sets we have here. I know Pulsar and Flamestrike can cut things safely, but we don't know what Menace has rigged up in case we try."

"I can get in without anyone seeing or sensing me." Shadow Blade says, "I'm getting a lot better at shadow travel."

Flamestrike looks skeptical, "You're _sure_ you can do it. Last time you tried going somewhere you couldn't see…"

"All I have to do move slow." Shadow Blade insists, "Take my time, no instant travel."

"Ok. Go for it."

The minutes spent waiting are tense. Pulsar feels herself getting stronger, the aches starting to receded, but she's still nowhere near full strength. If they have to fight…well she'll deal with that if it comes to it. Flamestrike, at least, is still at full strength. Finally, Shadow Blade returns.

"The manager is opening the shutters. Menace is gone." He reports, "Everyone said they just walked into the manager's office with him. They were in there for a while, and Menace never came out again. They left the shutters closed because there was a war going on out here."

Soon they're inside. The people are still unsteady from the Tuned Disruptor, but they're slowly recovering as the group of superheroes enters. That's when Pulsar recognizes the manager. It's the same guy she saved that reporter from, and that Menace stole from, a few weeks ago.

"You! Why are you here?"

"What? Er…I just got this job. It has nothing to do with Menace and that's all I have to say. Ms Wills isn't pressing any charges so I must ask you to leave me alone." He looks nervous and seems to have not at all been affected by the Tuned Disruptor.

Pulsar lets him leave, watching him suspiciously. "Menace stole something from that guy." She says to her teammates, "And now he's here? Something's not right about this."

Flamestrike and Cherry Bomb make their way through the people asking questions, while the rest of them search the building quickly. There's no sign of Menace at all. At one point, Pulsar is sure she catches sight of a familiar face, those angular features, that sly smirk, but then they're gone as the people in the bank filter out to the waiting police and ambulances.

“I don’t get it. What did Menace hope to accomplish here?” Flamestrike asks.

“Whatever it is, you can be sure they accomplished it.” Pulsar responds, her tone dour, “We lost here. I’d bet whatever they did, it’s probably somehow legal too.”

“It’s not legal to rob a bank.” Flamestrike scoffs.

“Of course not. But I don’ think they robbed this bank. And I think all the other bank robberies, and the whole thing with Occam’s Repair, all just cover for _this_ operation, whatever it was.”

“That reminds me, all the banks that were robbed have been warned about potential worms or viruses in their systems, and they’ve all come up clean after independent security checks, not performed by Occam’s Repair.” Flamestrike says, “Maybe it was just a coincidence.”

“You don’t actually think that.” Cherry Bomb says, “You just want it to be true because you can’t figure out the real reason it’s important.”

“What if it’s not a worm, what if it’s _part_ of their system?” Xenomech says, as the group gathers in the increasingly empty bank. “All the computers Occam’s Repair services are capable of automated trading functions. If Menace inserted a function into their trading services code to funnel money to their own accounts, you’d never be able to track it, and it’d take ages to track down the bit of code that’s doing it.”

“And neither Occam’s nor whoever built the programs could even admit it.” Blue Shift adds, “They’d be blackballed in their industries.”

“Menace probably works for them too, or used to. It’d be the easiest way to do it.” Shadow Blade comments.

“Hey Frankie.” Cherry Bomb says.

“Yeah Charlie?” Flamestrike sounds tired.

“These kids are really fukkin’ smart.” She says with a smirk.

“Well good, because this three-dimensional chess shit is making my head hurt.” He complains.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next few days, Pulsar and her team, with Flamestrike and Cherry Bomb, go over the site of the incident with a fine-toothed comb. The only things they can’t access are the bank’s confidential computer files and the secure vaults. Whatever it is Menace did in there, it’s well hidden, and probably hidden behind confidentiality policies and contracts more powerful than any superhero. Eventually, there’s nothing left for them to do, and it gets left to the CXPD detectives to deal with. Which means, it will never be solved.

Pulsar is flying a night patrol when she finds out what Mence accomplished. Passing through downtown, she spots huge black banners being unfurled on H&H Bank’s twin spires. Swerving close, she finds Menace doing the redecorating.

“You!” She exclaims.

Menace, in their full suit, stands up and faces Pulsar after unfurling the last banner. “Hello Pulsar. What do you think? I was going for understated but dramatic.” They motion to the banners below.

The banners are black, with an iridescent sheen to them. In the center is a glittering gold pyramid with a silver eye at the top.

“Really? Illuminati imagery?” Pulsar asks dryly. “I hope you’re happy with it because you’re gonna be stuck with it once this goes public.”

Menace shrugs, “If I get famous enough, it’ll be _my_ imagery. Aren’t you going to asky why I’m putting these up?”

“I assume you’ve somehow stolen this bank?” Pulsar guesses.

“You’re at least as clever as your teammates. What about how?”

Pulsar shrugs, “You bought a controlling stake in the bank. Somehow.”

Menace laughs, “Close but not quite. You see, the Holden Brothers have had their bank massively overleveraged for over a decade, but they’ve been hiding it. I found out and started buying up the debt. Perhaps you’ll guess how.”

Pulsas thinks for a moment. “The robberies, you put code into the automated trading programs at those banks. Only it wasn’t for funneling money to you, or it was but the money was immediately used to buy up all the debt.”

“Excellent!”

“And that guy you stole the data from, he knew something, he was about to take a job at this bank.”

“You’re doing _very_ well.” Menace says enthusiastically. “Keep going!”

“He had some kind of plan, but you took his plan and used his position at the bank to finish yours. I’m missing some details here though.”

“He worked for an auditing company.” Menace hints.

“He knew about the hidden debt!”

“Precisely!” Menace claps excitedly. “He applied for a job he knew he could get, apparently wen to some trouble to undermine the old manager as well, intending to sell the information to the highest bidder. He also hid the results of the audit from his own employer, somewhat clever, but no vision.”

“You knew the company was overleveraged, but you needed to know who to buy the debt from. Obviously, you had some way to pass instructions to your extra code...” She stops, “You’ve got a legitimate company, that’s how you accessed the extra functions in the programs, you opened accounts in all the banks you robbed.”

Menace laughs maniacally, “Yes! Yes! Oh, you don’t know how pleased I am someone gets it!”

“So, once you owned all their debt you...got in here to...use the manager’s access to communicate with the board. Forced them to sell you a controlling stake in the company?”

“More of a very advantageous negotiating position.” Menace corrects, “The details are complicated but my ownership of the debt has become a ninety percent stake in the company, they were _very_ overleveraged. And now I’ve stolen a bank, quite legally I might add.”

“Stealing the micro-cents isn’t legal.”

“True but entirely unprovable.”

“Also, you didn’t need to rob those banks to get the code in. With your tech you could have infiltrated them at any time.”

“Surely I could have.”

“You didn’t even need to have the fight we had here.”

“It gave me an excuse to remodel the building, but no, I didn’t need to.”

“So...the robberies, the buildup, the big fight, you arranged it all for the drama?” She snaps her fingers, “And a distraction!”

“Yes! I knew I was going to like you from the moment Mindy told me about you. You _are_ clever. You see, I _loved_ the drama, I would have done it even if I didn’t need the distraction, but the drama also kept people with more access to information from looking too closely at my digital activities. The micro-cents can’t be traced and the automated debt purchases are perfectly legal. No one can prove anything, and my control of this bank, which I will be renaming, is secure.”

Pulsar nods, “Ok, I have to admit, it’s brilliant. You know I had to fight all out against Cherry Bomb _and_ King Croc for your drama.”

Menace chuckles, “Yes, and you did brilliantly! You enjoyed it too.”

“What? No.”

“No no, you can’t tell me honestly that you didn’t thrill in the struggle. You can’t lie and say you aren’t proud you stood toe to toe with two legends and held your own.”

Pulsar sighs, “Ok, I admit it. It was...I’ve never felt anything like it.” Her tone gets more excited, “I had to go all out! I couldn’t believe the power of it, the raw energy flowing through me. Gods, it was incredible! Even the pain and exhaustion afterwards felt good.”

Menace nods, “We’re going to face each other again. Perhaps next time I won’t be so many steps ahead of you. Some day you may even catch me. I’m coming up with new tech already to counter you, and your friends. Your speedster is cute, by the way, tell him that for me. Oh, and tell him I have Rage of the Machine’s core processor. He was looking for it. And I’m in love with Xenomech’s tech. Did they design that suit?”

“Yes. She did.” Pulsar answers. “Looks like I’ll have to train harder, and study, if I’m going to keep ahead of you, take you down some day.”

“I can’t wait.”

Pulsar can’t see it, but she just knows Menace is grinning that sly grin under their mask.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back home, Rin and Alex are hanging out in Rin’s workshop, talking about “velicitons”, Rin’s new name for the particles that affect Blue Shift’s speed. They get very interested in Pulsar’s explanation of Menace’s devious plan.

“They really are brilliant.” Alex admits.

“They were also about fifteen steps ahead of everyone the whole time.” Rin adds, “I’d say it’s time I got really good at hacking and infiltration. We need access to more information, and we can’t be spotted getting it if we’re going to catch Menace in the act next time.”

“They’ll have better tech next time too.” Alex points out. “Pulsar and I need to train.”

Pulsar nods, “I get the feeling, Menace wants to be our nemesis, and in a weird way, our friend.”

“I think I’d like that.” Alex says, “Better than a nemesis that genuinely tries to kill us at every turn.”

Rin nods, smiling, “I like Menace’s tech too, it’s very slick. I think I’ll enjoy competing with them.”

“Maybe we should invite them to D&D night.” Pulsar suggests. “Speaking of, is Martin here yet?”

“Hey!” A younger voice shouts from the scrapyard entrance, “Are you nerds ready to die horribly!”

Rin sets her tools down and sighs dramatically. “I can’t believe a fourteen-year-old is my DM.”

“Yeah but he’s so good!” Alex enthuses as they exit the workshop, “You can’t deny the campaign got off to a dramatic start.”

“He’s got it in for me.” Rin complains.

“You’re playing a paladin of course you’re going to draw aggro.” Pulsar points out, “And it’s your dice that’ve got it in for you.”

“Not tonight, I’ve got new dice.” Rin counters, “Every single one machined to within a micrometer, perfectly balanced, absolute materiel uniformity, the finest scrap steel, carved with my own hand-made tools, blessed by three dads.”

“I think I’ll stick with my glitter dice.” Alex says, “They love me.”

“I think the opals and I are still getting to know each other.” Pulsar says, “But, I’ve been talking to them. I think tonight will go really well.”

“Pulsar, if you rolled any more crits in a night I’d have to suspect weighted dice.”

“Weighted dice _you_ gave me, darling.” Pulsar says with a saccharine smile.

“Come oooon~!” Martin, aka Shadow Blade, complains, “You guys are so oooolllld and sloooow~!”

“He’s calling a speedster slow.” Alex points out.

“Because the fastest man in the city takes five minutes every time his combat turns comes up.” Rin responds.

“I’m a wizard!” Alex protests, “I’ve got _options_.”

Pulsar pauses for a moment, letting them walk ahead to the house where the loudly complaining Martin waits with a grin on his face. She looks up at the sky. Out here on the edge of the city, in the middle of the unlit scrapyard, its easier to see the stars. With her enhanced vision, it’s even easier. But even with that, she can’t see _her_ star, only a radio telescope can see it. And yet, somehow, she knows she’s looking right at it. She knows it’s listening to her, feeling what she feels. She wonders if a star has ever felt contentment. There are battles ahead, and suffering, high drama and private pain, she feels like she can see it all laid out. Every moment will be worthwhile because right now, she’s in love, and among family, in her home.


End file.
